Vision
by Cobalt the SeaWing
Summary: This is a Human AU Moon and her soon-to-be friends arrive at college, some excited, others less so. When Moon has a vision, she and her dorm-mates set off to save not only the school, but possibly the world too. Chasing dragons, they will find many secrets meant to be left behind - some about what they're up against, some about them. Some, they will wish they had never found...
1. Prologue - Moon

**Yes, this is a human AU. I really like them, and if you don't... well, I feel sorry for you. Also, this is my first story I've ever written, so it's a bit rusty. Feel free to say anything you think should be changed, or if you find anything wrong. Have fun reading this... *pauses to think* ...mess.**

Moon

Moon was aware of what she was.

As a Night, it was hard to fit in. Dark skin, black hair, and so many stories about how they were better than everyone else. When the truth had been revealed, suddenly everybody hated Nights more than they had _before,_ which was a great feat.

So as she walked into collage, she was stared at. And not because she was pretty, although some dragons said she was, with her straight black hair, face framed by big black glasses, and her flecks of silver hiding inside the rest of her otherwise soft brown eyes. No, she was stared at because she was a Night. It was as simple as that. She was glad she was only stared at as much as the other Nights; it would have been worse if they knew what she could hear.

As if on cue, a thought sprang forth, into her mind. _WHERE DID HE GO?!_ The thought was so random, she let it slip from her mind. She didn't look around much, but when she did glance up, she saw people smoking, texting, and chatting with friends. One guy seemed to be selling something, but Moon decided not to say anything about how it looked like alcohol. She kept walking, head down, until she reached the welcoming room. When she did look up, what she saw stopped her in her tracks. A long desk was against the wall, and overhead was a white banner that said in black, bold letters; Welcome Students! The letters were close together, so that left (who Moon guessed was Sunny) a lot of room to draw things. An open book was on one side, and a graduation hat was on the other. Surprisingly, as childish as they were, they made Moon feel more… welcome.

She quickly walked over to the desk and was greeted by Tsunami, the hero in person. She sounded on edge, but also excited.

"Welcome, welcome! What's your name?" Just as Moon was about to answer, Tsunami waved her hand.

"Oh, that's right! You're Moonwatcher, aren't you?" Moon was surprised, but she nodded. Tsunami pumped a fist up, and brought it back down with satisfaction.

"Yesssss. Another right name!" She grinned. "I'm getting good!" She handed Moon a pamphlet, and she gestured to a door leading to the right, with a sign next to it that said: Elevator - Enter Here.

"Go up the elevator to floor five and down the hallway a bit. It's hard to miss." Then she gestured for the person behind Moon to come up, and Moon quickly made her way to the door. She had an armful of bags, most of them heavy with books. She glanced at the contents of the pamphlet, then shouldered the door aside. Setting down her bags with a huff, she pressed the button to the fifth floor. At the third floor, the bell dinged, and Moon was joined by a Mud. He shifted from a foot to the next, and then hit the fourth floor button. As the elevator bounced back into motion, the Mud held out a hand to Moon. She glanced at it, and then gingerly shook it.

"Hi," the Mud said. "I'm Marsh. What's your name?" Moon clutched a bag handle.

"M-Moon. Moonwatcher, a-actually." Marsh nodded and looked at her bags.

"I can help you with those, because, as you can see, I don't really have anything to carry." Moon looked properly at him for the first time. He had tanned skin from being in the sun, and dark brown hair. With eyes the color of mud, he stood about the same height as Moon, and had strong muscles.

She shook her head, and stammered out, "I-It's f-fine. M-My floor is only o-one above y-yours. T-Tsunami said it w-wasn't too far." Marsh shrugged, and leaned against the elevator wall. Moon noticed something she hadn't before; he was carrying _something_. It wasn't much, but he had a brown satchel over his shoulder hanging at his waist.

The elevator doors beeped and opened to reveal the fourth floor. Marsh smiled at Moon, said quickly, "See you 'round," and left the elevator before the doors could close on him. Moon sighed and waited for the elevator to get to her floor. _Really,_ she though, _if I made a school, I would at least install faster elevators._ The door finally beeped though, and she gathered up her bags. She stumbled to her dorm, and opened the door. As soon as she was inside, she dropped down her bags and shut the door behind her. Leaning against it, she caught her breath and looked around.

Two sofas were in the main room, and she could see a hallway leading off. In front of the two sofas was a big-screen tv. There were several bean-bag chairs lying around, and a small mini-kitchen was off to the left. It was stocked with a island sink, a small refrigerator, several counters, two cabinets, and a few chairs stacked up against the wall. She left her bags where they were, and explored. The hallway had four doors branching off. On the right wall was a door marked; Girls' Room, and another marked; Bathrooms. On the left side, across from the girls' sign, was a door marked; Boys' Room. Across from the bathroom door was the last door. It had no label, but when she walked inside, she saw a laundry basket labeled; Jade Dorm - Room 225. The rest of the room was bare, except for a shelf for whatever reason. As she looked, she saw the outline of another door. Confused on why it would be hidden, she tried pushing it open. It swung away easily, and inside was a small room, completely empty save a comfortable-looking chair and a cushion from what was probably part of an old couch. She shut the door, confused on why it would be hidden if it was so normal.

Shrugging, she left the laundry room, shut the door behind her, and went back to her bags. She moved them all to the girls' room, filling the shelf at the side of one of seven beds. Moon had picked out the one on the left at the end of the room. Another bed was across from her's on the right. When she finally got all of her books onto the shelf, she looked at the end of her bed, where a trunk was just waiting to be filled. She unpacked the second-lightest of her bags; all of her clothes. She tucked inside ten outfits, most of what she owned. As she picked up her last and lightest bag, she looked for someplace to put it. As she scanned her area of the room, she slowly realized that the trunk bottom wasn't as deep as the floor. She looked around the base, and noticed a drawer. _Perfect,_ she thought. She arranged all her scrolls and pens until she was satisfied, then shut the drawer.

Grabbing a book from the shelf that had a bookmark in it, she went back into the main room and fell onto the sofa next to the door. She opened the book, and got so lost in the book, she thought she was really there.

 _The mysterious animal held open a pouch, revealing gold coins, possibly stolen from the Sand queen herself. It squeaked, attempting to talk to the dragons…_


	2. Chapter 1 - Winter

Winter

Limos were the only good way to travel. Busses - like he would be caught _dead_ on that thing that schools called "helpful." Sweaty kids, loud swear words, awful music, and dragons in what was considered "love." If Winter's mom had taught him anything, it was to never, ever, _ever,_ date a dragon from another tribe. Or, one from a lower circle. Winter was in the second circle, granted by his parents. He was the Queen's nephew, so his title was Prince Winter, but calling himself Winter (to himself, certainly not to other dragons,) was fine.

Icicle interrupted his thoughts. "Winter, why are we going to this school?" Winter sighed. He had been over this a thousand times.

"Because, the Queen said it would be good for us." He was careful to say "us," instead of the real answer, which would have been, "The Queen said it was good for me to find some sort of 'specialness' in my nothing self." Truthfully, she hadn't said that, but the message was clear enough. He brushed his light blue hair out of his eyes. His fingers ran through it smoothly, showing off the darker blue highlights that were surprising natural.

The limo slowed, and Icicle looked up from her sapphire-cased phone. Winter, who had been staring out the window, not looking at anything, registered where they were. The limo had pulled up on the curb of campus, and Winter could see several different characters. Some were texting, some chatting, some smoking, some reading, and some just sitting by their lonesome selves. Maybe it was bad, but Winter didn't care about any of it. He just needed to find his dorm, have it specially format to meet his expectations, and then kick out his roommate. Not so hard for the Prince of the Ices.

As soon as the door opened, people started staring. Winter stepped from the limo, ignoring the gazes of the other college students. A servant lifted Winter's bags from the trunk, and carefully walked inside. Another grabbed Icicle's stuff, and followed the first inside. They waited once passing the doors, unsure of where to go. Winter walked into the welcoming room, looking around. It was… college-y. A white sign, black letters. Old fashion. He saw a few other people hanging around, but they didn't seem to notice the royals.

Princess Icicle walked up to the desk and demanded for her room number. Glory, who was the apparent greeter for the time, folded her arms and raised an eyebrow. Then, after a few seconds of the stare-off, Glory grabbed a brochure and handed it to Icicle, pointing to a door that said: Elevator - Enter Here. Glory said a few words to Icicle, and sent her on her way, the servant with bags following closely. Winter got stuck with Sunny, an average height girl with long sandy hair and gold eyes. She was a bit tan, probably from working in the sun.

"Hi!" Said Sunny excitedly. Winter nodded stiffly, and decided to _try_ and be sort-of cold-shoulder, which was the nicest thing he knew how to do as a Prince.

"May I have my pass to my room." He didn't ask, but was still sort-of being… what was that word? Less-than-demanding. That was it. Sunny was taken aback for about two seconds, but the brightened right back up.

"Sure!" As she sorted through the pile of pamphlets, she started talking. Ugh. "Winter, right?" The Prince stiffly corrected her.

" _Prince_ Winter." Sunny nodded thoughtfully and finally got his separated. She pointed to a door that looked identical to the one Icicle had gone through, but it was in a different part of the room.

"Fifth floor, Jade Dorm. Have a wonderful start to college!" Winter took the paper, nodded again to Sunny, and flicked a wrist at his servent. The man quickly hurried to open the door for him, and Winter walked through. Instead of having his man take his stuff all the way to his dorm, he decided to do it himself. That was rare.

"Leave it in the elevator with me. Get back to the limo - the driver will drive you back. I have no need for you any longer." The servant was careful not to show any emotion, just blinked in understanding, set the stuff down in the spacey elevator, and left without a word. Winter hit the level five button, and leaned his head against the glass of the elevator. He started thinking about campus - the people, the places, the (he thought the word with disgust) _roommates._ He was so lost in thought, he didn't notice when his blue bangs fell in front of his face, or when another person joined him.

" _Psst. Hey, you might want to wake up. Frick, are you in a comma…?"_ The voice startled Winter, and he jumped a bit. His eyes popped open, to reveal a horribly disgusting sight; a Sand boy. He had loose tan shorts, a baggy blue shirt, _two_ bags, sandy blond hair, humorous blue eyes, and a scar on his left cheek. He was thin, and had a dark tan - probably from being out in the Sand sun. When Winter jumped, the boy smiled, which was a crooked mistake. Winter immediately wanted off. He looked at the floors. One more to go. The Sand boy laughed.

"Did I scare you?" He glanced down at the Prince's bags and laughed again, harder. "Oh my - Moons of Pyrrhia, are you _Prince Winter?_ " The Sand absolutely cracked up. "Oh, so rich… Yet so scared!" Winter felt his face flush blue.

"You didn't scare me. Just… I was a bit startled. And yes, I'm Prince Winter." He scrunched up his nose. "I'm assuming you have a name, although I'm sure it carries zero amount of significance." The Sand grinned, unphased by the remark.

"Well, since the mighty Prince asked me," the Sand did a mock bow, "I shall reveal my name to all of my adoring fans." He grinned, and a lock of hair fell over his face. He blew it aside, and said proudly, "I'm Qibli, friend of Queen Thorn of the Sands, also friend of Sunny the Dragon of Destiny. Did I mention that I'm basically Thorn's adopted child? There you have it folks, I'm best friends with the Queen." His eyes went to Winter's face, which was stone cold.

"You know someone. Cool." The elevator beeped, and the doors slid open. "Since you know all about royalty, perhaps you know anyone who annoys the Ice Queen's nephew has to carry his luggage." The Sand - Qibli, was his name? - Grinned and walked out of the elevator.

"Have fun carrying your bags!" He called over his shoulder. Grunting, Winter picked up his bags, and almost toppled over. He gained his balance, and walked after the Sand. Winter looked down, focusing on his bags as to not drop them. When he saw a door, he looked up at the label. Jade Dorm. As he reached for the doorknob, another, tanned hand also reached.

"No. No, no, no." Winter looked up into the grinning face of the Sand.

"Yes!" Qibli reached to fist bump him. Winter made no move to accept, and had a look of utter disgust. Qibli's grin grew. "Roommates!" Groaning, Winter opened the door. He picked back up his bags, and headed inside sullenly.

"Why, why why…" he muttered. Qibli was still grinning like a maniac. When Winter walked inside, Qibli was right behind him. A Night girl was on the nearest couch, her face in a book. Qibli walked over to the other couch and plopped down. Winter glanced around at the room. There was a hallway, a main room, a mini-kitchen, and random scattred bean bags. He almost groaned in disgust. There were no crystal chandeliers, no persian rugs, no larger-than-king canopy beds, no murals of Ice scenery, and definitely no on hand servants to carry his stuff.

The Night girl glanced up at him, whipped her head around to look at Qibli, and then shoved her face back into her book with what looked like a blush. Rolling his eyes, Winter gathered up his bags and started towards the hallway. He hoped that these were all his roommates - if not, then an unthinkable thing would have to happen. He would have to _share_ a _bedroom._ He shuddered slightly at the thought. As he walked by the couch where Qibli was flicking through tv channels like he had never touched a remote before, the Sand suddenly leaned over the sofa and grabbed Winter's arm.

Winter was, if there was any way to say this kindly, ticked. "Sand, let go of me, _now."_ Qibli made no move though, except to nod at the Night girl. Qibli got off the sofa and dragged Winter with him to where she was sitting. Winter dropped his bags halfway there, deciding it would be better to pick them up later instead of keeping them and having them weigh him down. As the thought crossed his mind, he realized how heavy those bags were, and regretted dismissing his servent.

They reached the couch, and Qibli let go of Winter's arm. Winter glared at him, but the dragon just grinned and looked down at the curious Night, who had been watching them approach.

"Hi," Qibli said, still grinning. The Night girl said in a soft voice, "Hey."

Qibli didn't even look awkward. Winter, on the other hand, was sure that butterflies literally existed in his stomach. When he really looked at her, she was actually sort of pretty. Straight black hair and brown eyes with silver flecks. It was almost cute how she clutched the book in her arms, as if it could save her from being embarrassed.

"My name's Qibli, and this," the Sand gestured to Winter, "Is Prince Winter of the Ice Kingdom. Although, don't be scared, he's about as harmful as a newborn kitten." Winter bristled.

"Say that when my fist is in your face," He said through clenched teeth. The Night watched, slightly amused.

"I-I'm Moonwatcher - Moon, actually." She stumbled a bit on her words, but Winter could tell from her bookmark that it wasn't that she was stupid. Probably nerves.

Moonwatcher didn't offer her hand, and neither did Qibli. Winter made no move to: she didn't seem like the type. They all stayed there, an awkwardness suddenly filling the air. Breaking the moment, Winter went back over to his bags and hauled them into the hallway. He read all of the labels beside the doors, and his dread grew with each one he passed. He stopped at the one marked Boy's Room. He opened the door, and heaved a lingering sigh of annoyance and dread.

 _Great,_ he thought. _I have to share a room with_ him. Winter choose the bed farthest from the door in the right corner. He set his stuff down, and arranged it carefully. He would have to have a word with the Dragons of Destiny - He could absolutely _not_ share a room with that Sand. He wasn't even sure he could bare to be in the same _school_ with him. As he walked back outside the room, he heard a door open, and an exuberant "Hi!" echoed through the whole dorm. Winter turned the corner, and saw a Rain with brightly colored hair and dress. _Great,_ Winter thought bitterly. _Another idiot._


	3. Chapter 2 - Moon

**Warning, this chapter is very fast paced, and can be hard to follow. (Sorry.) I wrote it so quickly, and I tried to jam a lot of different ideas into it. It's also sorta long, sorry to bore you guys. (Sneak Peek at this chapter) I don't truthfully know where the prophecy is going, so it might take a while to take affect. A few parties, maybe a game of truth or dare, (if you guys want) and even MAYBE a play or something. If you have ideas on what I should add before the prophecy kicks in, please feel free to let me know, and I'll do majority rules or try to set up a poll of sorts. I'm going to try to post every day, or every other day, until I get enevitable writers block. Enjoy this chapter!**

Moon

What no one knew, and would probably never know, was that she could read dragon's minds, and she could tell the future. Even after the secret came out that none of them were like that, Moon was the exception there always was. And what again no one else knew (well, obviously the person who thought it knew it) was _why_ she had blushed when looking at Qibli. He had been watching her from the corner of his eye on the sofa, and she had listened to his every thought - even if most of it was extremely complex.

 _She's pretty. Dark complexion, black straight hair, and lash-framed brown eyes. Wait… are those silver specks? They're hard to see, but I think so…._ He had inconspicuously glanced around at the room. _I'd say Winter would be the most dangerous, but I don't think he'd attack anyone unless they provoked him_ alot. _Not like my teasing, although for a second I was convinced he would slam me against the wall and strangle me._ Moon was surprised they knew each other from before, but she could barely fit her own thoughts in anymore. His mind was so fast, calculations going on as if it was first-nature. But it wasn't that that mystified her. It was that he wasn't even aware he was doing it. All of the information was being stored away for later, but he wouldn't use it unless it was needed.

 _How can I get her to notice me? Hmmm… Oh, I'll just be myself - funny and a little mischievous. Let's see, Winter would be the perfect cover…_ And he had planned the whole thing out. And it had worked. Moon was jolted back into the moment when a very loud and excited voice called out from very near her; "Hi!"

Moon's head popped up from her book. A little Rain had walked in, and was smiling a mile a minute. She had slightly tanned skin from being in the rainforest, shifting hair, and a dress that couldn't decide what color it was. When Moon had first seen it, it was a bright yellow with blue spirals, but was now a lime green with purple stripes. As Moon watched, the Rain glanced down and frowned for about a nano-second. Her hair went blonde with two bright streaks of pink; a blue streak was in between them. Her dress settled into a cream color. Moon opened her eyes more, having squinted when the colors got too much for her. The Rain looked back up and grinned widely.

"I'm Kinkajou! What's all your names?!" She seemed to radiate excitement.

"U-Umm," Moon stammered. Qibli took up for her, thankfully.

"I'm Qibli, and this," He gestured towards Moon, "Is Moon. Well, it's actually Moonwatcher…" He tilted his head a bit and thought for a split second. "Just call her Moon." Kinkajou was practically bouncing.

"Nice to meet you!" She gushed out. "Are we everyone? Not that I'm disappointed, you guys look amazing! But I somehow imagined more people." Suddenly, Winter appeared from around the corner.

 _Great,_ his mind hissed, _Another idiot._ Moon tried to ignore him, but she was actually deeply offended. She wasn't an idiot, and Qibli was _definitely_ not an idiot. From the way his mind moved, he was probably as smart as any queen - if not more so. Kinkajou couldn't read minds, but since Moon could, she shot a look at Winter. He looked stunned for a minute, and his thoughts raced.

 _What? Why is she looking at me like that? What did I do?_ His thoughts paused. _She's actually really pretty… wait,_ can _she read my mind? I heard this legend once, that if there are silver specks in a Night's eyes, they can read minds… Nah, they confirmed that no one could do it and it was all a hoax. Well, I'm glad she can't because she is very_ very _pretty… STOP! STOP STOP STOP! Mother told you NOT to do this!_ Especially _with a Night. They're the_ definition _of Night enemies. STOP THINKING ABOUT THIS!_ Moon hurriedly shut out his mind. She was reeling. Kinkajou snapped her out of it though when she sprang over to Moon and gave her a giant hug. Moon locked her arms to her sides, paralyzed. Hugs _were not_ her thing. She looked over Kinkajou's shoulder and locked eyes with Qibli. He shrugged and suddenly grinned. He went over to Winter and dragged him out from behind the corner. The Prince yelped and struggled, but to be honest, Qibli was probably stronger than him. Kinkajou jumped up when she saw the Ice, and her thoughts burst through Moon's head. Before Moon tried to process them, she slipped from Kinkajou's grasp and went over to the island, clearing her own thoughts.

 _Oh my gosh he's hot for an Ice. The way his streaked blue hair falls in front of his face, the way he resists but can't do anything. Why isn't he EXCITED?! College is amazing! I never thought I would get here, but now I am here and it's AWESOME! What was his name? Did someone say it? I'm trying to meet everyone, but I still haven't! I wonder if anyone else is hiding - or if there are more roommates. Well, I guess they're dorm-mates, but whatever._ Her thoughts were scattered and unruly, so Moon blocked them too. She knew it was prying, but she was fascinated by Qibli's mind, so she started to listen to his thoughts. Only his conscious ones though, not the unconscious ones that ran a hundred miles per hour.

 _Winter is ticked, but I saved Moon. She was looking super uncomfortable. I wonder why she doesn't like other dragons? None of my business though. Good deed of the day marked off my list._ His conscious thought stopped for a second, which surprised both Moon and Qibli. _How can I get her to notice me? Like, not just acknowledge me, know I exist, more of like, how can I get her to realize who I am, and now what I come off to be - without just telling her? Hmm, now that this dragon -_ His mind went into storage and pulled out the name - _Kinkajou is here, can I use her as cover? She's super energetic…_ His mind started doing calculations again, so she waited until she could actually read his thoughts without getting a massive headache.

 _Let's see. I could help her move her st- Nah, she was here way before us, and her bags are gone. She probably has them put up already, and besides, that's way too high school. I heard there was this cafe downtown, I could ask her to go with me after classes or something…? She might not like coffee though, and that would be awkward._ His mind slowed down a tiny bit. _You need to observe a bit more. She's just like all the rest of the dragons. You'll get to know her quickly without her even knowing you know._ His conscious butted in.

 _I don't know Qibli,_ said his mind. It was funny, really, how he talked to himself in his head. Moon smiled, and ducked her head at the counter so no one could see. Even though Qibli was thinking about her, he was focused on Kinkajou and the struggling Winter.

 _What don't we know?_ Shot back the other half of his conscious.

 _Ok, well, we do know most things, but I'm not sure about this Moon. She seems… different somehow. Like, maybe we won't be able to get a very good read…?_ It was like he was arguing with himself.

 _Pfft. We can read anyone. Let it drop._ Qibli shook his head literally, as if clearing his thoughts, which did actually happen.

 _We're dont thinking about this. But, I've come to a conclusion. I'll look into her, get a read, and then see where it goes. I don't even know if she will be my_ friend, _much less my…_ His train of thought crashed. He had no words to fit that blank. _Girlfriend? Best friend?_ Moon could feel waves of disgust from his thoughts.

 _Qibli, you're helpless. You just met her for moons sake!_ Suddenly he was slightly amused - even if it lasted only a second. _Haha. No pun intended._ Moon wanted to laugh, or better yet, smack her forehead with her palm and roll her eyes.

 _Ok, you're done. Stop thinking about her. You came here for grades - you're not like the jocks from the Scorpion Den High School who all they want is the girls. You're gonna get good grades Qibli. A's only. One B, and Thorn will know you're distracted. She sent you because she knows you can do good. You won't get distracted by one girl! Keep your head!_ He started thinking about the quizzes and exams, and Moon quickly blocked him out. She really needed to not read people's minds. It was annoying, and she learned things she didn't want to - or things that she wasn't supposed to know. Example - two guys already had crushes on her. Effects it had on _her -_ she now knew, and she had to keep it to herself. Plus, they both seemed… ok? She didn't know - Qibli was smart, and was a bit rough. He didn't exactly care what people thought of his look, he just wanted people to know him for _him,_ not his status or riches. Winter… was pretty much the exact opposite. Striking looks, and he only wanted people to know the royal part of him. Not the part where he was secretly way to kind, and he couldn't harm _dragumans._ Wait… where had that come from? Moon was confused. She knew it was true but… where had it come from? Ohhhh, she knew know. Flooding back to her came the thoughts of Winter while she had been listening to Qibli.

 _How come I have to act like this? Well, I mean, everyone would be disgusted of me if they knew the true me, but I mean, I would be_ me. _I remember when Mother found out what I was really like…._ The scene played back in his head, and even though it was a matter of seconds, the time and length of the memory was longer.

 _I was hunting on the ice, determined to impress Mother and Father by catching a polar bear. Finally, I spotted one. It was large - larger than most. With yellowish fur, it was older than most. As I looked, two small cubs came scrambling out of a hole in the ice. They were young - too young to leave their mum. I paused, and my true self showed. Instead of launching the spear immediately, I stopped and watched them play. Suddenly, two_ dragumans _crawled out from behind a chunk of ice. I was fascinated - I had no idea they came so far North. As I watched them, their furry wings spread open, as if they were about to take off. Suddenly, they scrambled back behind the chunk of ice, and I saw a shadow come from behind me. I whipped around and saw Mother, Father, Hailstorm, and Icicle. Icicle had caught a grown polar bear already, and Hailstorm had two seals slung over his right shoulder. Mother had looked down in disdain._

" _Catch it you fool!" She had snarled. This alerted the polar bears, and they ran into the ice where no dragon would dare go. Mother had slapped me. "You good-for-nothing-" She had shouted. I kept my eyes away from the_ dragumans. _The royal family sometimes ate them, and I had no intention of letting Mother and Father eat these. Hailstorm spotted them cowering, and opened his mouth to say something. I quickly glared at him, and he slowly shut his mouth. He knew how I adored them for no reason. He had even helped me catch a few. Catch-and-release, but they were fun to observe. That was the first day of disappointment…_

The story stopped, and Moon had to swallow a lump in her throat. That was so sad. She felt bad for Winter, because his parents couldn't see the good inside , his thoughts whipped into high gear.

 _Why does it feel like there's something in my head…? It's really weird, as if someone is eavesdropping on me. Wait… that Night… could_ she _be reading my mind?_ Suddenly, he was furious with fear. _GET OUT OF MY HEAD! I KNOW IT'S YOU, NIGHT!_ His thoughts shifted for a single second, and part of him said, _Her name is Moon y'know._

 _I DON'T CARE!_ Wow, he was just like Qibli. Well, sort of. It was cute how they both had good and bad sides to them. And how they made them fight each other. As if there really was a little devil and angel in each of them.

 _GET. OUT. NOW!_ He roared. Moon shut him out and focused on the counter as WInter shot her a suspicious glare. Knowing that she couldn't ignore it, she looked up, confusion in her soft brown eyes. Winter looked away from her, looking slightly ashamed and self-angered. Moon focused back on what was happening. No more mind reading for her. She was _done_ with the whole thing.

For a second, things went back to normal. She was back in the flow of events. Qibli was idly talking to Kinkajou about lessons and stuff, and Winter occasionally joined in. He would sometimes glance over at Moon, who was now rooting around in the cabinets to see what the dorm came with. She was counting her fourth box of poptarts she found, when suddenly a splitting headache made her lean heavily on the counter. She threw her hands up to her head, eyes squeezed shut.

 ** _An evil comes to shatter the sky,_**

 ** _An evil comes to scorch the land,_**

 ** _Unless together, friends united,_**

 ** _The school apart will not stand._**

 ** _Be prepared for Rain,_**

 ** _For Ice, Sand, and Night,_**

 _ **An evil to arise,**_

 ** _For all to end in fight._**

 ** _A mystery to keep hidden,_**

 _ **Lies to be heard,**_

 ** _To end with a secret,_**

 ** _A single word._**

Moon felt her head clench, and she crumpled. She was dimly aware of Qibli shouting, and Winter rushing up to her, then standing still, frozen. Kinkajou's long hair was stark white, and her dress was pale green. Moon couldn't hear anything, and her vision was starting to fail. She was almost unconscious, and the very last things she could perceive was Qibli catching her before she hit the floor, and him demanding for Winter to call someone. Kinkajou sprang out of the door, calling for help. As Moon slipped from consciousness, she heard Qibli muttering to her, "It's fine, we'll find someone…."

 **Yay Moonbli's! There will be more for all my Moonbli brethren, and for all you Winterwaters, I might be generous and try it out. BUT I think I'm going to stick with Moonbli for right now. IF you disagree, and I should start out with Winterwater, just let me know, and depending on how many people want it, I might do it and alter the chapter flow. I already have the chapter for tomorrow planned out, stay tuned!**


	4. Chapter 3 - Qibli

**Ok guys, I MIGHT start a new story, so if I don't post for a while, it's because I'm writing a new story. Also, please please please leave reviews on what you think I should add in the upcoming chapters! I'm having to free-write them, and I'm not sure if you guys are impressed with what's going on - so I need your reviews to make it better. Also, if you think you're review won't get noticed, then don't worry, because no one reviews my stories lol. And, it would be rude if I ignored any comment at all. So if you have an idea for where this story is going, let me know! Now, have fun reading this chapter on my favorite dragon, mixed with my OC that I'm especially fond of!**

Qibli

His legs bounced up and down.

Wow, day one, and already someone unconscious. He was waiting outside the nurses' office, Winter on his right and Kinkajou on his left. Her dress had returned to a cream color, but her hair was still ghostly white.

"Qibli?" Kinkajou suddenly asked. He turned to look at her, confused.

"I-Is she gonna be ok?" Her face was pale, and he felt bad for her. She had no idea what was going on - neither did he, to be fair, but he was at least semi-accustomed to it. People passed out all the time in the Scorpion Den district.

This… this was different though. As far as he could tell, she hadn't been cut by a knife and fell because of blood loss, nor had someone hit her on the back of the head with a sturdy book. Or their fist.

"Yeah…" he said slowly. He didn't want to lie, but he felt it was needed for this Rain. He glanced at Winter, who, like Qibli, had his legs bouncing. His head was down, his fists clasped together between his knees.

"Yeah," he said more certainly, trying not to let his voice waver with the lie. "I'm sure she was just overwhelmed, and she'll come out any time." As if on cue, the nurses' door popped open. Moon walked out, one hand rubbing her arm sheepishly.

"S-Sorry," she mumbled. A million thoughts came to Qibli.

 _Is she ok? Why did she just pass out - for no reason? Was she overwhelmed by college? Will she pass out again? What did the nurses do to her? Is she on dorm-arrest?_

Moon tilted and clutched the doorframe, as if she had a headache. Both Qibli and Winter sprang up, but she gingerly smiled and waved them off.

Qibli sat down slowly, but Winter just _hrmf_ ed and walked off towards the dorm. Kinkajou cried out, her hair shifting to a pink then settling down to a light brown; streaks of pink still in it, sprinkled randomly.

"Moon! Are you ok?!" She ran up and hugged the girl - poor Moon.

"Y-Yeah, I'm fine… just a bit of a headache." She slipped from the girl's grasp and turned to Qibli, including him in her words.

Kinkajou was standing next to her, worry etched on her face along with relief. Moon awkwardly shifted feet, and looked at Qibli in the eyes.

"S-Sorry for that. I-I don't usually do that… the headaches are normally it. Through h-high school, no one really paid attention b-because we didn't have rooms, or roommates. S-Sorry," she apologized again.

Qibli was still mystified, and he felt that he might have the liberty to ask one question.

"Why did you just pass out, just like that?" He snapped his fingers to emphasize his point. She visibly winced, and Qibli wished he could take it back.

"I mean," he kicked at the floor with his cheap sneakers, suddenly uncomfortable. "You don't have to tell us…" She looked at him, eyebrows furrowed.

He was shocked. Did she know that he had taken an immediate liking to her? How would she know?

Then, he realized it was because he had said she didn't have to tell him. His eyes locked on the floor. He never passed up information. Never. It was just too valuable.

Rule number seven in the Scorpion Den District - If you pass up information, you're a dead man. And now, he might as well have been dead. He forced himself to not blurt he was curious why. No one passed out for no reason. It could be sickness, pressure, a multitude of things, but never for no reason.

"T-Thanks," Moon said quietly. "But I-I guess you have the right to know, considering you c-c-carried me all the way h-here." Qibli pushed all of the blood in him to his feet, refusing to blush.

True, Winter had gotten there faster, but he was in so much shock he didn't have time catch her. Qibli had rushed up and caught her two inches from the floor. Too close. Much too close. He was jolted back when Moon started to explain.

"I have these headaches sometimes, and I get really…" she paused, the continued as if she was reluctant. "Vivid, pictures or images. They come and go, but I've never passed out before…."

Qibli had to give it to her. She was a good excuse maker. But as a former thief, he could tell the best lie from a mile away. Thorn; the current Sand Queen; had found him useful for this.

He had lied so many times, it was easy for him to know when someone else was lying. A quick flicker of the eye, a swift lick of the lips, a tiny shift, even a direct gaze to the ground, could give it all away.

And Moon was staring at the ground as if it was forcing her to look at it.

"'Kay," was all Qibli said. Moon cast a quilty glance at him. Kinkajou didn't notice, and she hurriedly put her words in.

"Aw, Moon, have you ever tried some aspirin?" Qibli heard Moon snort, but Kinkajou didn't. She was just too innocent to notice these things.

"Yes, I have. It, as well as any other kind of medicine, doesn't help. Neither does sleep, food, messages, anything. It's just the way I am." Kinkajou's dress turned a drab grey before switching to a bright yellow.

"I know! Have either of you heard of the cafe on campus?" Qibli hadn't known there was one on campus, but he guessed it would be more practical. That must have been the one Onyx mentioned when he heard her talking with her buddies.

"Yeah, I have." Rule number four in Scorpion Den District; to admit you don't know something, or aren't sure of something, is suicide. So Qibli made no move to say he hadn't know it had been on campus.

"Well," Kinkajou said, her hair changing from caramel to bright, explosive blue.

Qibli partially shut his eyes, trying not to go blind.

"We could go over there, get some snacks and drinks, and come back, and just hang! It's first day on campus, and we need to get to know one another!" Qibli thought it was smart; he could get to know Moon; and the rest of his dorm-mates, he thought quickly.

Moon seemed to blush at the ground, and for the first time, Qibli noticed that the speckles in her eyes were a startling silver - no, he had known that.

What he hadn't realized: all the other Nights had dark brown eyes, no silver. Never had he seen one with silver in their eyes. It was odd, he thought.

He noticed Kinkajou looking at him expectantly, and went back to the topic.

"Sounds like a good idea, I can go get Winter from wherever he went."

Quickly, Moon, who didn't want to be left out, said quietly, "I'll help. Qibli, could you check the welcoming room, and I'll check the dorm? If one of us find him, we can text the other."

She pulled out her phone, and Qibli did too. It was stupid: no offense to Moon, but he already knew Winter had gone to the dorm. That's where all his stuff was, and it would give him space to clear his head.

They swapped numbers, and then split up. Kinkajou went with Moon to the dorms, so Qibli went to the welcoming room by himself.

When he got there, it was full of students. He could make out Tsunami at the welcoming desk, and Clay making his way to the cafeteria. Sunny was greeting people throughout the room, and Qibli dodged her by going over to the entrance doors.

He went outside, and saw a small fountain. He sat on the rim, sharp eyes looking for Winter; but he already knew he wouldn't be here. So he mostly watched people talking, holding his phone, waiting for Moon to text him that she found him.

Three minutes later, Qibli felt his phone vibrate. He swiped the screen and typed in the password - _amber_ \- which was so random no one would guess it. He saw the text message from Moon.

 _Found him. A new dragon dropped by - a Sky. Her name is Carnelian, I think. She's a bit… well, let's just say we walked in while she was getting ready to throw a knife at Winter's face. I don't think she's coming with us to the cafe. I asked Starflight (we dropped by the library) and we should have Turtle coming by any minute. That's our Sea dorm-mate._

Wow, Moon sure knew how to type a long text. Qibli kept reading.

 _Kinkajou gave me directions to text you, and also her number._

The number was first, so Qibli quickly added it to his contacts. The directions came after.

 _Go out of the greeting room, take a left, go straight for a while, and make sure to watch your right side. She said it's hard to miss - a large green cup is on the top. It's called Lime Cafe; I'll find Turtle and make my way over there._

Qibli quickly messaged back. He wasn't one for long, complicated stuff, so his text was easy and casual.

 _K_

He stared at the screen for a while, wondering if he should add something else.

After a few minutes, he just hit the send button, and watched it pop up on the screen. It was pathetic, now that he read it.

She went through all that time to write that text, and all he said back was - K.

Wow, he really needed some advice. Lucky for him, he had brought with him a friend. None of the others needed to know; they might think he liked Coati more than them. Which, being truthful, Coati was a life friend, and he had just met these guys.

Still, he didn't want them to get the wrong impression. Quickly, he pulled back up his text messages.

 _Hey Coa can i drop by ur place? wont take long promise. just a friend to friend conversation._

Yes, Qibli knew it was short. He knew it made him look like a 3rd grader who didn't know how to properly write. But, Coati didn't mind, and Qibli really didn't like long texts.

Well, actually, he didn't mind other people's long texts, but he didn't like writing them. Coati messaged back almost immediately.

 _Ya bro. Drop by whenever. Rush much? You usually aren't so 3rd grade. Jk, idec. If it's a girl man, get da f over here. If it's not, take your time. Cuz I probably won't care if it's not about one._

Qibli almost laughed. That was Coati for you.

Obsessed with girls, but also friends problems. He would pick out a girl from fifty feet, wink at Qibli, and Qibli won't even have time to snort before Coati was over there, flirting with her.

Qibli hadn't had a crush before so he was mostly cool with it. Ok, ok, he _had_ had one in the fourth grade.

And that was actually when Coati and Qibli had been friends. It all came back to him now, which brought a quirking smile to his tanned face.

 _Qibli was sitting at his desk, filling out his test, and casting the occasional glance at Taipan._

 _He saw another dragon staring at her, and he glared at him. It was a dragon in his class named Coati, which, although Qibli would never admit it, was a pretty cool name._

 _The teacher rapped his ruler on his desk, making everyone look up at him._

 _Taipan looked up, but first glanced at Coati, and she barely masked a smile. Qibli melted._

 _He had had a crush on her all year now, and it was nearing the end. Glaring at Coati, he made a slicing motion on his own neck._

 _Coati winked at him, and mouthed,_ Alley, class, out. _Qibli had lessened his gaze, and nodded slightly._

 _Soon, the bell rang, and Qibli went behind the school into the alley where all the older kids hung out. Today, no one was there, and Qibli was surprised. There was always_ someone _here, selling_ something.

 _Those things ranged from cigarettes to girls' gym clothes dragons had stolen. Weird, and yet the guys would pay a lot for some of them._

 _Qibli shrugged, and leaned casually against the wall. He regularly checked his old, scratched up watch._

 _He would stay until 3:08, no longer. He was afraid some of the guys would show up, and he would have to escape; or fight._

 _Truthfully, fighting was fun, but escape was easier. He started to plan out multiple ways to escape when Coati rounded the corner._

" _Hey Qibli," Coati had said. Qibli had looked him up and down, looking for any hint of weapons or anything else._

 _When Qibli saw he checked out, no slight bulges, no fidgety actions, no flickering eyes, he calmed down._

" _Hi Coati." It was normal for them to know each other's names even if they hadn't met each other before. Rumors flew like flies in the Scorpion District._

" _So, I saw you eyeing Taipan today," was how Coati started the conversation. Qibli knew that denying it would get him nowhere. So, he stuck with what he thought would get the best reaction from Coati._

" _Yeah, I was." Coati smirked._

" _Well then, you're in luck." Qibli had popped an eyebrow up._

" _And how might you assist me?" Coati's smirk grew._

" _I know a few things, picked up here and there. For instance, she likes Gymnocalycium_ _cactus, her favorite color is pink, and she wears a something blue every day to remind her of a brother she lost in a war."_

 _Qibli tried not to look impressed. That was some serious information gathering._

 _Qibli knew he had to play hard to catch. "I don't know. Why would you help me?"_

 _Coati's smirk changed into a grin, and he put an arm over Qibli's shoulder._

" _Because, you're meeting the number one matchmaker of this school. It's in my Code of Conduct."_

 _He reached into his back pocket and pulled out two sheets of crumpled, old paper. He let Qibli have a look at them._

 _My Code of Conduct_

 _If a guy or girl needs my assistance getting with their crush, I have to promise to help them out for at least until they have told their crush they like them. Until that is done, I cannot stop helping. If I have a case, then I cannot accept another one, UNLESS it's my friend._

 _Page two said,_

 _List of a few rules_

 _No interacting with them while they're on a date (unless it is absolutely necessary)_

 _One has to tell the other they like them, or else the case is not rested_

 _Have fun Coati! It's a matchmaking business. What can go wrong?_

 _Qibli laughed, and Coati grinned wide._

" _Yes, I have a current case, but we're bros, right?" Qibli grinned, and accepted the fist bump Coati attempted._

" _You bet we are."_

Qibli had told Taipan he liked her within the next week, but she had her eyes on a guy named Rattle.

Qibli had honestly shrugged and said, "Ok," and walked off.

Him and Coati stayed friends, and were still friends today. And that was how they became friends, because Coati was a matchmaker, and Qibli was a client.

Before Qibli let his conscience get to him, he pulled out his phone and texted Moon.

 _Hey, I'm going to drop by at a friends before I go to the cafe. That cool?_

Her response was almost immediate.

 _Fine by me, Kinkajou looks a bit crestfallen, although for some reason Winter looks like it's his birthday. See you soon._

Ha, lucky Winter. It was definitely his birthday: Qibli was getting the best matchmaker in town on his side.

 _Have fun at the cafe Winter; let it be the last time you ever have fun,_ Qibli thought smugly. He started off towards the outskirts of town; running, because otherwise, he wouldn't make it to the cafe at all.

 **Ok guys, this up to you! Should I make Coati a chapter, or do another one from Qibli's POV, or, let the meeting remain mysterious? I need ideas guys! And, if no one reviews, I'll leave it blank, and you'll never know what went down at Coati's house. If you guys have question about anything from this chapter (The cactus plant mentioned, or even Coati's name idea) you can PM me, or add it in a review. Thank you guys, you're the best! Have a good afternoon!**


	5. Chapter 4 - Winter

**Guys, yes, I'm AWARE I posted the short story at the wrong time. Don't blame me - it was 11 oclock and I was tired. ANYWAYS I'm going to fix it, and also if you're reading this and you haven't read the short story, I haven't failed YOU at least. Well, have fun reading what I meant when I posted the last (soon to be next) chapter/short story.**

Winter

He was so done with that know-it-all Sand. Winter should've been the one to carry that Night to the nurses' office. Even though he knew his Mother would have been in a towering rage, and Icicle would have snickered, he was inevitably drawn to that girl. He didn't know why, or how, but he was. And he just let a poor, filthy _Sand_ carry her to the nurses' after she passed out. What was he; a Fifth Circle dragonette who let his peers boss him around? No, he was the Prince! He should've been the one to carry her to the nurses'.

Then, it struck him how stupid he was being. _I've known her for what, ten minutes? Not even that, and I'm already mad that some guy carried her to the_ nurses' _office because she passed out. What's_ wrong _with me?_

He took the steps three at a time, not even blowing back his bangs when they fell in front of his face. When he got to the side door that said Floor 5, Jade Dorm, he pushed it open and was suddenly in the floor five hallway. He shouldered the dorm door aside, and went straight to the bathroom. He turned the cold tap on, (not as cold as the water in the Ice District, but cold enough,) cupped his hands, put them under the faucet, and splashed the water on his face. Suddenly, Winter was aware of another dragon in the dorm.

He grabbed a towel, dried off his face, and went to look at who was here. It was a Sky, her red hoodie shadowing her face. She had one backpack slung across her shoulder, but other than that, it looked as if she had nothing. He was wrong. As soon as the Sky noticed him, she had a sword in her hand and was getting ready to throw it at him. Winter had been trained for this kind of situation, so he stood still, and slowly started to speak; barely moving his mouth.

"I'm Prince Winter, and I'm guessing you're the Sky assigned to the dorm. Please, before you throw that…" he glanced at the sword in her hand, "At me, please know that if you do hurt me, I can have a hundred men here in less than ten minutes, so think carefully." Suddenly, the Sky pushed back her hoodie and examined him. She had light, auburn hair pulled back in a ponytail, burning yellow eyes, and a small scar across her forehead. Suddenly, Moon and Kinkajou opened the door, and stood in shock of the scene before them. Winter with his hands up, looking nervous, and a Sky that was about to throw a sword at him.

Moon took a calming breath that didn't even help the look on her face, and started to stutter a sentence. "B-Before a-anyone dies on the f-first day, c-can I please get y-your name, and w-why you're going to kill W-W-Winter?" She tripped several times on his name, and he thought with a small burst of emotion that she was adorable when she stuttered. Her face grew red, and he wondered why.

"I'm Carnelian, and your little friend scared the shz outa me, so I thought I would take the liberty of killing him and saving myself a future problem that would end nastily." Carnelian didn't use a bragging voice, it was more of like a, it's-a-fact-yes-I-was-going-to-kill-him, voice.

"Oookay then," Moon said. Carnelian glared at her and sheathed her sword at her waist.

"Where's my room?" Moon wordlessly pointed to the girls' room, and Carnelian stormed over to it. She opened the door calmly, but when she went inside, she slammed it shut and the dragons could feel the dorm shake.

"Let's go to the l-library," Moon suggested. "We can f-find out who the S-Sea is." Winter nodded, taking a couple deep breaths. Kinkajou's hair was stark white, and she made no move to fix it. Her face was deathly pale, and her dress was also white. She looked sort-of like the angels that Winter had read about in books and movies. White dress robes, white or light blond hair, white halo, and always the palest skin. If Kinkajou wanted to play an angel in a play, right now, she would have gotten the part, no questions asked. Moon grabbed Kinkajou's hand, which seemed to snap her out of her trance-like state.

"Where are we going?" Her hair went from white to dirty blond, as if it wanted to go to brown, but was stuck with white, so it found something in between. Her dress went cream; which seemed to be it's favorite color.

"Kinkajou," Moon said patiently, "We're going to go to the library and find out who's our S-Sea dorm-mate." Kinkajou nodded, and Moon lead her out of the room. Before they left though, Moon looked over her shoulder at Winter.

"We're going to a cafe after… Kinkajou, Qibli, and me. If you want to come…."

Winter replied with a carefully flat voice. He didn't want to let her know that he was semi-excited to go. "Sure. Where is it?"

"Well, you could just come with us…?" Winter felt stupid. That would be so much easier, and he knew it. He nodded, trying to put an absent, uncaring look on his face.

"Oh, yeah, ok, I'll come." He hated himself. That was absolutely the most lame thing he had ever said in front of a girl before - in front of _two_ girls. He made sure he recorded the record. _Day one in college, I already have a_ Night _crush, and I just made myself look a fool in front of her and her friend. Also one of my friends has a crush on her too._ He was a bit taken aback by the last sentence. Since when was Qibli his friend? But, Winter knew he always forgot names of people who didn't matter, so obviously Qibli was already his friend.

 _Ugh, and I'm friends with a raggedy, poor Sand. Mother would be so proud._ He smirked silently at his own comment, although luckily, no one saw. Moon had started walking out of the dorm, and Winter rushed to follow. They all got into the elevator with an awkward silence, and Kinkajou had been the one to press the button to the second floor, which was conveniently where the library was located. The whole college had one,and since the Jade Dorm was the main dorm, it was in their section of the building.

After several moments of silence, the doors dinged, and they all walked out into the library. Starflight had convinced the school board to use the whole second floor for a library, and also insisted that they have every book that was ever made. Of course, the second request wasn't completely fulfilled - how could you own every book ever made? But he still got most of it, as any books published were usually ordered as soon as possible, and stocked on an increasing number of shelves. The trio walked over to the counter, where they found Starflight busy reading a catalog of new books. Actually, he was having Fatespeaker read it to him, but every time she read a book, he would say,

"Yes Fate, add it too," or, "Hmm… we'll wait, and if we get any requests, make sure to order it." It was never a definite no, which wasn't surprising, since this was Starflight.

Winter got stuck at the front of the group, and he groaned inwardly. "Hey, do we need to come back at a different time?" Starflight and Fatespeaker whipped their heads around, not knowing that the college students had entered.

"No no," Starflight said quickly, before Fatespeaker could start whatever sentence she was forming. Starflight paused, and then took a tentative guess. "Winter… and who else?" Moon started to speak, but Kinkajou was too fast.

"Hi! I'm Kinkajou and this is my friend, Moon!" Starflight nodded, and turned towards Moon.

"Hello Moonwatcher. Did you want that new book on hold for you? Let's see, if I remember right, the whole Twilight series again, by Shepard, the SandWing?" Moon looked down and shuffled her feet. When she spoke, she had a calm voice Winter had never heard her use before. She was usually nervous and stutter-y.

"Oh, not right now Starflight. Actually, me and my friends were wondering who else was in our dorm; I can't remember who it said." Starflight nodded thoughtfully, and held up his fingers, counting down from seven.

"Jade Dorm… Night - Moonwatcher, Sky - Carnelian, Mud - Umber, Ice - Winter, Rain - Kinkajou, Sand - Qibli, and Sea - Turtle. Does that answer your question?" He smiled, knowing it had, and Moon nodded, then seemed to remember that Starflight was… blind, and suddenly she had a sheepish look on her face as she talked.

"Yes, thanks Starflight. I'll come by tomorrow and pick up that book. I owe you one." She nodded at Fatespeaker, and headed out. Winter could hear Starflight chuckle, and then ask Fatespeaker to continue reading the catalog. As soon as they were in the elevator, Winter visibly saw Moon change. She went from being confident and relaxed to nervous. She quickly pressed the first floor button, then pulled out her phone. She read something on her phone, and then started to explain. "Qibli is going to stop by his friend's house, so he'll be a little late. What do you guys want me to tell him?"

Kinkajou, looking a little deflated, said quickly, "He's fine. If he wants to hang out with someone for a while, I'm cool with it," she said bravely, but her suddenly darkening hair said otherwise. Winter concealed a laugh of happiness.

"Fine by me," he said, but let a smile sink into his lips, and a light of happiness into his eyes. Moon texted back quickly, and then the doors dinged.

She walked into the main welcoming room, and headed for the welcoming stand. Tsunami was helping someone, Sunny was greeting people around the room, and Glory was leaning idly against the counter, texting someone. The trio made their way over to Glory, who looked up as they walked over. She quickly dropped her phone in her pocket, and folded her hands.

"What can I do for you?" She asked in a bored voice. Sounds like Winter wasn't the only one not-thrilled to be here among the hustle and bustle.

"Can you t-tell us if there's been a S-Sea who dropped by with a name of Turtle?" Glory nodded, and pointed to a guy looking extremely anxious, talking to a girl who held herself like a princess. Wait, no, on second inspection, Winter could tell that _was_ a princess - Princess Anemone. _Well,_ he thought, _At least me and Icicle won't be the only royalty._ He started walking towards them, and Kinkajou and Moon quickly fell behind. The Princess saw them coming, and brightened up.

"Finally!" she said triumphantly. "Turtle, I want you to take careful notes on how these dragons are going to talk to me, and I want you to make improvements on your conversing skills." Winter knew what _that_ felt like. He had tons of "friends" that only "talked" to him so they could make money for their families. A lot of times, he gave them a fifty dollar bill and sent them on their way, because honestly, he didn't need fake friends.

"Hello," Anemone said pleasantly, glancing at Turtle to make sure he was listening. When she turned back to Winter and the girls, Winter watched Turtle roll his eyes. He caught Winter looking, and turned his head down. _Serves him right,_ Winter thought. _If he's gonna be fake, he should endure consequences._ Winter looked back at girls and found he had no need to; they had pulled up beside him. Moon was biting her bottom lip and gazing at Turtle with a confused expression. Winter wondered what she was staring at.

He was a normal Sea, dark brown hair, sea-green eyes, slightly tanned skin, strong arms and legs for swimming. He had a little jewelry; a small cloth pouch hanging around his neck, and a gold armband with small black rocks in it. Compared to Anemone though, he had nothing. She had streaks of gold in her hair, bright blue nail-polish, two gold armbands on one arm, a green bandana on the same arm, diamond earrings, a jade necklace, a gold necklace with a silver pendent, and a leather necklace with a copper heart on the end. She also had a ring shaped like a miniature crown on her left hand, middle finger. Turtle also lacked the intricate clothing she had. He was wearing a normal black t-shirt, and she was wearing a coral pink top that had a back that looked like the laces on a shoe. It had see-through long sleeves, and a see-through bottom fringe lace. He was wearing old jeans, and she was wearing faded jean shorts with frayed ends and a loose, tightly braided leather belt.

"H-" Kinkajou started to say, but Moon stepped on her foot softly. Kinkajou looked at her in surprise, but seemed to get the hint, and shut her mouth.

"Hello Princess," Moon said, leaning forward a fraction of an inch. Anemone smirked, and she did nothing to stop Moon from bowing ever so slightly. "Hello Turtle," she said again, and only nodded her head at him. He looked startled, as if he hadn't known anybody would know him.

Winter cut in. "Are you two related?" He had been getting more suspicious of this as he watched them together. Turtle didn't have the right posture for a servant, and wasn't acting like he was getting paid to be friends with Anemone. So, Winter had taken a guess. He really didn't keep up on other tribe's royal family's, unless they were major, like Anemone, Auklet, and Tsunami. They were the most commonly talked about royalty, since every other female child Queen Coral had was killed by a magic bed in the Royal Hospital. As soon as they were put into the bed designed for female royal dragons, they died as soon as they were left alone for even a minute second.

Anemone and Turtle interrupted his train of thought. "Yes," Anemone said, as if it was the most obvious thing in the world, and Turtle said quietly, "Yeah."

 _Nice,_ Winter thought. _Day one - I have royal siblings in the school besides me and Icicle. Looks like I won't be the hottest royal after all._ He saw Moon, out of the corner of his eyes, try to conceal a smile. He furrowed his eyebrows, thoroughly confused. Was it because he had asked about them being siblings? Or was it something else? Whatever it was, the smile quickly died as she put that look on her face like she realized something. Winter thought he knew what it was. How were they _ever_ going to get Turtle to join them? Moon nodded ever so slightly, glancing at him, and then hurriedly away again.

What _now?_ That girl was brimming with secrets, and Winter felt it. He had no idea what they were, but somehow, he would have to try and figure them out. If they were ever going to be even _friends,_ then she would need to spill them. Kinkajou spoke up since Moon was distracted.

"Well, we were just going to a cafe on campus, and we wanted to invite all the dragon's from our dorm, so we went and asked Starflight, and apparently Turtle is out dorm-mate! So, Turtle, would you like to come?" She asked the question pleadingly, her eyes growing large. Turtle glanced at Anemone, who grinned and shrugged.

"Go on big brother! Make some friends, meet some people! Don't stay to yourself forever!" Turtle looked like he was going to shrivel up and die, but he nodded glumly.

"Ok, if you want me too," he said, way to quietly. Anemone didn't hear him, and she gave him a good, hearty shove towards them. He almost toppled into Winter, earning a laugh from Anemone, and a glare from Winter to Turtle. Turtle hurriedly backed up, and stood by Kinkajou nervously. Moon glanced at him again, then lead the way out of the welcoming room. They all walked across campus, following Kinkajou's directions. Everyone talked: Everyone, that is, but Winter. He had pulled out his phone, and was walking a few feet from the group. When he looked up from his screen, he was shocked to find Moon next to him, who had also drifted from where Kinkajou was talking idly to Turtle, who had lost some of his nervousness.

"Hi Winter," Moon said quietly when she caught him looking.

"H-Hey," he said, and powered off his phone, slipping it into his pocket. They walked in silence for a few more paces, and slowly moved back towards the group. Winter abruptly started talking.

"Did Qibli say why he was stopping by his friend's house?" Yes, it was a prying question. No, he didn't care; much. And yes, he was trying to chat with Moon despite the efforts of trying to be left alone. She looked up at him. He was only about two inches taller than her, so she didn't have to look very far.

"No," she said, a tinge of curiosity in her voice. Winter nodded, looking around, trying to find something else to talk about. He was saved though, when Kinkajou hopped over to Moon and pulled her towards a small shop. True to Kinkajou's word, a tall green cup was on top, and a neon green sign said in cursive, _Lime Cafe._ Kinkajou hurried everyone inside, and they all sat down at a table with six chairs. The other dragons in the cafe looked at the four students, wondering why they had sat at a table with six chairs, when clearly there were only four of them. Kinkajou, Turtle, and Moon talked about the menus, and Winter just pulled out his phone. His sister, Icicle, was going to drive him nuts.

 _Winter, I messed up my hair! Do you know anyone on hand that could do my special double braided bun with a flower?_

 _Winter, I CHIPPED. A. NAIL. What do I do?!_

 _Winter, my dress is so stupid! Do you know my stupid servent put my bag that held all of my dresses?_

Ugh. Icicle needed servants to even _survive_ a _day._ Groaning inwardly, Winter started to reply.

 _ICICLE. I'm at a cafe right now, with most of my dorm-mates. No, I don't know who could do your hair, or even what style that is. No, I have no idea what you do when you chip a nail. No, I do not know where Glaze set your stuff. He probably got distracted and left it in the limo. Call Mother - don't bother me!_

Good enough. He glanced up at the menu. Now, what would he have…


	6. A Short Story - Moon

**OK, those of you who have already read this, make sure you checked out the last chapter because I changed it. Yes, I was wrong - This was before what I had posted. Ooops...**

 **Oh well. Anyways, if you haven't read this, HAVE FUN with the shortest story ~ever~ created by me. ALSO I might not post as regularly - end of year tests are crushing me. Thanks for understanding.**

Moon's POV

Moon didn't have anything against Umber personally. She just generally didn't like Muds. Like by generally, she meant she would rather tell Kinkajou she could read minds than hang out with one. Like she said, it wasn't personal. There _was_ a story behind it. And, she thought to herself, I might just want to remind myself why I skipped inviting Umber to the cafe.

 _The moons glinted in the sky above, and Moonwatcher turned her small head to look at a sudden rustle by the broken window. Her mother should be back any time; the sky was getting slightly lighter, although she could still see the stars clearly. At this time, she was only four, and already she knew how to tell the time from looking at the sky._

" _Hey, wonder what's in this building?" Said a rough voice from outside. Moonwatcher had snuggled deeper into her blankets. Her mother said no one could find her. What if she had been lying? Moonwatcher didn't remember reading her mom's mind and finding her untruthful, but it could have happened._

" _Maybe we should check it out?" Said another, deeper voice._

" _Yeah. Who's going first?" This voice was slightly different from the others. It was higher, as if the dragon was younger._

" _Not it," Moonwatcher heard several dragons say simultaneously. She tried to count the voices, and she came up with at least four. The seemingly younger dragon sighed._

" _Fine, you guys win." Moonwatcher heard muffled footsteps, loud whispers, and then the click of the lock. She huddled down, scared._

" _Hey, are there even any lights?" Said the younger one, blindly feeling for a light switch. At last, another dragon came in and helped, and soon, Moonwatcher could pick out five different sets of shuffling feet._

 _Finally, one of them found it with a coarse, "Aha!" and light flooded the small area. Moonwatcher blinked rapidly, trying hard to see through the spots in her vision. When she was finally able to see, she noticed five dragons staring at her in shock. They all had tan skin, brown hair, brown eyes, and cheap clothing. It was like they were all twins - but at different ages. They just stood there in shock, and Moonwatcher felt all ten eyes staring at her with ultimate focus. She didn't even_ want _to read their minds. Suddenly, the youngest one spoke up._

" _Yeah, we better go." Two more dragons nodded, a girl that was probably the second youngest, and another, a male who looked like the middle aged one. The other two shook their heads. It was a while before one of them spoke. He sounded like the oldest one._

" _We should keep her, for ransom, y'know?" The other one who had shook their head, a girl, nodded in agreement._

" _Think of how much we could get for this little dear," she whispered. It was like she was doing calculation in her head already. Moonwatcher was frightened, so she let out a small scream. They all flinched, and suddenly Moonwatcher had an idea. If she screamed loud enough, would they go away? She tried it._

" _MOMMY!" She shouted loudly, a sob building up. They all looked at each other, worried, and then ran out of the building, scrambling over one another as fast as they could. Moonwatcher heard them saying curse words as they ran away. Minutes later, her mother came through the door._

" _Moon?! Dear, are you ok?! I heard you screaming…?" Moonwatcher nodded._

" _I'm fine, Mommy. There were these guys though, and they almost stealed me. Two of them were girls though. They had brown everything. It was like mud monsters. They were scary." Usually, Moonwatcher was less childish, but right now, it was all she could think about._

" _Oh, I'm so sorry honey! I should probably find somewhere else for you to stay… now that they know you're here." Moonwatcher had shook her head._

" _No, it's ok Mommy. I don't think they'll be coming back. Who were they?" Here was the more practical side of the four year old._

" _Well, they sound like Muds. They live in the swamp, are known for many things, like writing, messiness, and battle training. I'll have to be more careful, ok sweety?" Moonwatcher's mom had picked her up and swung her in a circle, then set her down lightly on the ground. It took Moonwatcher a moment to get her balance, and then she bounced happily, forgetting about the scary dragons who had tried to take her._


	7. Short Story - Glory

**Guys I'm so sorry for not posting in FOREVER but school just got out yesterday and we ran all over town the whole week doing pointless things. So here is what started out as a short story that turned into a not-so-short story. It's still kind-of a short story, because it doesn't relate directly to the story line. But I'm working on the real story line as we speak, ok, well, as you're reading, so don't worry, it'll come out soon. If you guys want me to do a truth or dare PLEASE let me know, because I sort of want to, but I'm afriad you all are already mad enough I haven't posted on the main plot in a while. Please let me know guys! Ok well on to the story!**

Glory

"Hey Glory," said a voice coming from in front of the counter. Glory looked up from her phone to see her self-appointed bodyguard, Deathbringer, standing in front of her.

"Deathbringer, aren't you supposed to be guarding my kingdom?" He smirked, and walked around the counter so he could lean on it beside her. She pocketed her phone, and looked up at him. Even though he was three inches taller than her, she was still his boss. Considering the fact that she _was_ his queen, he would do anything she told him to.

"Awh, c'mon Glory. I left Jambu in charge. The kingdom will be _fine."_

Glory groaned. "Not if you left Jambu in charge! Next thing you know, you'll turn around and you'll see flashing lights all the way from the rainforest, because he decided to spend the whole treasury on party lights. And when you get back, the whole kingdom will be drunk on berries, the huts will be destroyed, and my castle will be in ruins. There will be party streamers everywhere, and _you'll_ have to clean it up, since _you_ left him in charge." Deathbringer flinched, and Glory felt bad. She backtracked, her voice soft.

"Sorry, sorry, I'm sure he'll do fine. But if I get hit with confetti and murder someone, I blame it on you." He gave a small grin, and Glory was glad he wasn't sad anymore.

"No; I'm sorry; I shouldn't have left. I'll go back…?" Glory smacked his arm lightly.

"Well, you're here now, so what's the point. Besides," she said as she kicked him in the leg very softly, "You wouldn't want to leave the queen unguarded, would you?" Deathbringer laughed and brushed some of her blond hair away from her face. Glory felt her shirt start to turn pinkish, and had to make it stay black.

"No, we can't have that happening, either." He smirked and leaned down. Glory, laughing, pushed him back, and he tumbled into Tsunami, who was talking with a student. Tsunami kicked his ankle hard while glaring at him _while_ still talking to the student. He murmured an apology, and she just kicked him again, this time knocking him back to Glory. When Tsunami handed the student his pamphlet, she turned to Glory.

"Keep your assassin-boyfriend on a chain, ok?" She turned back and continued pointing out directions, while Glory put her hand over her mouth to stop from laughing. She knew it didn't work but the muffled sounds she could still hear.

"Haha, very funny." Deathbringer flicked a scrap of paper off his shirt, and leaned against the counter again.

"Well, that's what you get," said Glory smugly, although she did regret pushing him away before the kiss a _tiny_ bit. Deathbringer out on a mock look of anguish.

"What did I _dooo?_ " He spoke in a whiney voice that reminded Glory of Squid, an endlessly annoying Sea. She pushed against his chest again, but this time he didn't stumble.

"Well, you're existing, and that's pretty annoying." She saw an almost impossible to notice look of hurt flash into his eyes before leaving immediately. He plastered on a smile.

"W-" Glory rolled her eyes and grabbed his black t-shirt, pulling him down. She kissed him softly, quickly, and then pushed him back up.

"Just shut up already," she said, smiling. He grinned, looking at the ground. "And also, I'm perfectly happy with you existing. So." She had no more words so say, so she just shuffled her feet. A Sand came up to the desk, looking out of place, and Glory turned to him before Deathbringer could say anything awkward.

"How can I help you?"

Glory helped students for a while, Deathbringer standing idly by her side. He was relaxed, but Glory saw him flex whenever she talked to any other student. After five more lost students, she folded her arms on the counter with a sigh.

"Why can't we just assign a robot to give maps to everyone with all the info on them?" Deathbringer chuckled, and Glory smiled. "Well, I think I can get Sunny to fill in for me. Watcha wanna do?" Deathbringer shrugged, and Glory punched him lightly in the arm.

"Hey, I'm just as bored as you. What would _you_ want to do?" Deathbringer countered. Glory rolled her eyes and called for Sunny. The bright Sand bounced over, her straight gold hair swinging behind her.

"Yeah Glory?" She blinked her bright green eyes.

"Hey, Sunny, could you fill in for me?" Sunny eyed Deathbringer and stood on her very tippy toes to whisper in Glory's ear. Glory did bend down a bit, just to help the little Sand out.

"Are you gonna ask him out finally?" Glory gently pushed her away and then leaned down and whispered back mocking fierce-fullness.

"No way! Don't you read the books? The guy is supposed to ask out the _girl,_ not the other way around." Sunny giggled, and whispered back.

"Since when do _you_ go by the rules?" Glory laughed quietly.

"Good point. FINE, I'll do it." Sunny giggled again, and tried to hold back from complete laughter when Glory turned to face Deathbringer. Glory jabbed a finger at Sunny.

"This was her idea," she said, a hint of teasing in her voice. "Deathbringer, will you go out with me?" Deathbringer's mouth morphed from a crooked grin to a full-out smile. He quickly tried to hide it by slapping a hand over his mouth, but it was too late. Glory rolled her eyes, and before she could say, "I'll take that as a yes," Deathbringer spoke up.

"Yes, Your Highness." He bowed, and Sunny burst out laughing. Glory slightly glared at Deathbringer.

"One, we established this. NO calling me Your Highness, Queen, or _My_ Queen." Not to lie, Glory did kind of like it when Deathbringer called her the last one, but now wasn't really the time.

"Two, I _definitely_ will fire you if you _ever_ bow to me again, whether I'm asking you out or not." Deathbringer hid a smirk, and Glory fought the urge to reach out and slap him.

" _Three,_ where do you wanna go?" Deathbringer let the smirk loose, and it looked to Glory that the whole room filled with light. She felt her shirt turn bright pink for a split second, and Deathbringer's smirk grew. She reigned in her emotions, making her shirt turn black once more.

"Hush child," she said to him, and he laughed. "Well?"

"Welllllllll." he said mockingly, "There's a movie theaters a few blocks away, and Avengers Infinity Wars is out." Ugh, Deathbringer knew too much about Glory. Like the fact that she absolutely loved Marvel, had crushes on multiple characters, and also had a crush on one of the actors brother. _*Cough*_ And no, she wasn't talking about Liam Hemsworth and Chris Hemsworth. Nope. MOVING ON.

"Ok, ok, I give in. When does the next one start?" Deathbringer rolled his eyes.

"Google was invented for a reason." Glory laughed and pulled out her phone. It was about three in the afternoon now, and the next movie started in ten minutes. She pocketed her phone and grabbed Deathbringer's hand.

"Bye Sunny, we're gonna go before all the pre-movie commercials are gone. Be back in… well, whenever the movie gets out and we go out because I'm already hungry." She dragged Deathbringer out of the school, him laughing, and trotted over to her black flat-bed truck.

"You're driving," she said, and got into the passenger seat. Technically, she didn't have a license, but she drove all the time considering if she _did_ get pulled over, Deathbringer would either murder the officer, or Glory would pay a fine and keep driving because no one could _really_ stop her since most of them were under her orders.

Deathbringer went around the other side and hopped in, putting in the keys Glory handed him, and then took off down the street.

"Woah there, yes, I want to watch the previews, but no, I don't to end up in a hospital." Deathbringer laughed and slowed down, and they were at the movies in time to watch the all of the previews roll twice.

 _*Two hours and forty five minutes later*_

"NO!" Luckily, Glory and Deathbringer were the only people in the room. "DEATHBRINGER WHAT IN THE PYRRHIA JUST HAPPENED TO MY MOVIE?!" Deathbringer tried to calm Glory down, but it wasn't really working. At least she had stopped throwing popcorn.

"Glory, I understand the fact that everyone just died, but hear me out. At least Mister I-Have-A-Crush-On-You-And-Your-Hot-Little-Brother is alive, right?" Glory got more mad at this and shouted louder, if that was even possible.

"THAT'S NOT HELPING! YES CHRIS HEMSWORTH IS ALIVE BUT FOR HOW MUCH LONGER? WHY DID THEY HAVE TO ROPE CAPTAIN MARVEL INTO THIS? CAN'T LIAM/GALE JUST POP UP AND SAVE EVERYONE WITH HIS AWESOME CROSSBOW AND HEART MELTING FACE?! WHY HER?! SHE'S EVIL! AHHHHHHH-" Glory kept shouting for about ten minutes until one of the staff got tired of her screaming and tossed Deathbringer a light drug that he dumped in her soda. Glory took a drink and then got really dizzy.

"DEATHBRINGER WHat did you do to my soda…" She blinked rapidly, and then fell over. Deathbringer caught her, nodded his thanks to the staff member, and took her back outside. He drove her all the way back to her home-away-from-home, which was a sandy colored brick building that was fairly large. It had a sunroom that curved out of the front of the building. On the right side a section of the house stood taller, and on the left there was a pool that had glass surrounding it. He parked the truck in the driveway, and carried Glory inside.

He went up two flights of steps, and opened the door to her elaborate bedroom. A canopy bed was in the middle of the right-side wall, and the back wall was made completely of glass, giving her a view of the forest beyond. A mahogany desk was against the left wall, a rolling and swiveling chair in front of it. Bookshelves lined the wall where the door was, and Deathbringer noticed that every spot on them was taken up. A fountain was in the middle of the room, shaped like two dolphins that had jumped out of the water coming from different directions. The water was crystal blue, and had small ripples where the water that sprayed out of the dolphins snouts met the pool.

He carefully set her down on the bed, adjusted the pillows and curtains, rolled the chair over next to her bed, and sat down. He fell asleep after a while, and dreamed softly. Glory was dreaming too, though not as softly. If anyone had been awake, they would have heard her muttering things that weren't exactly nice.

"Marvel Makers welcome to my game of 'Let's Use You To Make A Pain Scale!' Thanos I'm going to have fun cutting your limbs off slowly one by one!"

Deathbringer would also have been heard murmuring things about how he was protecting his Queen from random dragons. (He has one of these dreams about every night, so it's nothing new.)

"No Glory, I swear there were assassins coming, and I swear they weren't me."

And then Deathbringer switched to a different dream that apparently included a game of Truth or Dare, and one he _did not_ dream every night.

"Oh no, Tsunami, do NOT make me and Glory play seven minutes in heaven…" And a while after that, "Glory wow ok…"

That night, a security guard had an unexplainable heart attack while watching live video feed. Detectives couldn't figure out what had caused it until they rewatched the feed, and then half of them were wheeled to the hospital. Deathbringer had unconsciously started saying every word that he said to Glory while playing seven minutes in heaven, and since the dectevies didn't want anyone else to die, they had to cut it out from their report. Glory woke up later, fighting mad, and they had to put her under again. Deathbringer was brought in for killing someone, even if it was accidental, and he was facing twenty years in jail until Glory pardoned him. She also made sure someone duct-taped his mouth shut every night after watching the video. Deathbringer passed out of embarrassment that night, so half of the hospital rooms were taken up.

 **Well, thats... interesting. Like, wow, I never knew I had that much of a messed up imagination. Well... next chapter coming soon, thanks for reading!**


	8. Chapter 5 - Coati

**Tada look guys I finished the actual story-line chapter. Since no one gave me an answer, I went ahead and made a Coati chapter since I thought it'd be cool. So here it is. If you have any ideas at all about what my next chapter should be about, please please** ** _please_** **let me know because I officially have writer's block. Also, I did set up a poll in my profile, so please check that out and vote for what I should do in this story. If no one votes, the poll will end in 7 days, but if someone does, then an extra day will be added to that time. Ok so without further ado, have fun reading!**

Coati

"Hey, what's up?" Coati said as he watched Qibli open the door to his house and come in. Plopping on the couch, Qibli looked around for something, and Coati got up from his spot at the base of the couch, went into the kitchen, opened the refrigerator, and pulled out two cans of soda. When he walked back out into the sitting room, Qibli had propped his feet up on the arm of the couch and was staring at the ceiling with his hands folded across his chest.

"Hey, you ok?" Coati asked as he handed Qibli a cold soda. Qibli nodded absently, popped the soda open, and took a long drink. Coati sat at the base of the couch, and also took a drink of his soda. Qibli finished the drink and handed the soda down to Coati. Coati set it on the floor beside him, and Qibli's trap burst like a flood gate.

"She's amazing, and she has the prettiest brown eyes with silver sparkles, and she loves books and reading and she's shy and-" Coati hated to interrupt the description of this girl, but he had too. Qibli was talking too fast for _Coati_ to understand, and that was almost impossible.

"Whoa, whoa, whoa. Hold up, who, where, and how pretty is she?" Qibli took a calming breath and grinned.

"Well, let's just say her name is Moonwat-" Coati's eyes popped.

"She's a Night?!" Qibli grinned wider.

"College, my brother. You should try it out; lot's of girls." Coati reached up for a high five, and Qibli didn't leave him hanging.

"Let's start over. Who is she, what does she look like, and why do you like her that much?" Qibli rolled his eyes and started over for the third time.

"Ok, her name is Moonwatcher, but everyone calls her Moon, and she's a Night." Coati's eyebrows came together, but he didn't interrupt again. "She has dark skin, black, straight hair, soft brown eyes with silver flecks in them, and she wears a normal t-shirt and jeans. And I like her so much because…" He paused, and Coati knew what was coming. He groaned.

"Oh no, not you too…!" Qibli smacked Coati's shoulder, and they burst out laughing. Qibli kept thinking, and Coati kept waiting for an answer.

"Well, she's shy, she likes reading, and she's cute when it's like she can read your mind. I mean, she can't, but it seems like she can because she blushes when you think about her, and-" He stopped, and his eyes got big.

Coati propped up his elbow on the couch, and turned around to face him.

"Bro, you like a mind-reader. _That's_ interesting." Qibli blinked, and then blinked again.

"You really think she can read my mind?" Coati nodded.

"Well, first off, if she blushes when you think about her, then yeah, I'm pretty sure she can read your mind. And also, the little silver speckles part? That was in the history books, remember?" Qibli moved his head in what looked like a nod and a shake.

"Well, yes, I remember the history books. They said that if a Night has silver in their eyes, they have the power to read minds, and sometimes they can see the future." He seemed to realize something then, and Coati laughed quietly.

"You gonna tell me, ot do I have to guess? Is this charades?" Coati started flapping his arms like a chicken, and Qibli smiled.

"Yeah, yeah. So earlier, she passed out. She started out by going stone blank at first, and then suddenly she was clutching the counter with both fists, and then she fell. I caught her though, right in front of Winter," he smirked, and Coati guessed that this Winter guy also liked Moon.

"And then we took her to the nurses, and she came out and said usually headaches were it. I was confused, because I thought she had a sickness or something, but now I guess she can see the future, and when she does, it gives her headaches." Coati nodded in understanding.

"So, the big question is now: What are you going to do? You gonna play it off, keep your thoughts in check? Or are you gonna confront her and ask questions?" Coati, personally, would use it to his advantage in getting the girl.

Qibli… well, Qibli changed his mind a little _too_ much for Coati. Where Coati's only goal in life consisted of one word; girls; Qibli's goal changed. First out, it had been a master thief, lockpick, and pickpocket.

Yes, he had accomplished that and had been one of the best in the district. Then, he wanted into the Circle of Sands. Yes, he had accomplished that. THEN, it was high school grades. Check.

Before right this very moment, it had been college. Now, well, Coati looked at Qibli's face. Even he didn't know what his goal was. Would he go after Moon, and probably get her with Coati's help; or, would he stick to college and please Thorn? It was like Qibli had Moon's ability and could suddenly read his friend's mind.

"Moon, or college, Moon, or college, Moon, or pleasing Thorn…" Coati crossed his worn fingers. _Please God, let Qibli choose Moon. I can_ finally _help him get with someone. PLEASE._ Apparently, the Lord was reflecting on all of Coati's bad moments. The one where he'd stolen, lied, run away, and disrespected the law.

"I gotta get good grades. I got to. For Thorn, and for me." Qibli shook his head, his face downcast. "I want to go after her, I really do. But Thorn…."

Coati cursed. "C'mon, Qibli for old time sakes? Please? Wouldn't you have done it for Taipan?" Coati stretched out her name, emphasizing who he was talking about. Qibli swatted his shoulder.

"Aww, man, you just had to play her card, didn't you?" One thing Qibli had promised in his young and idiot years: promised to do almost anything if Taipan's name was asked upon. At the time, it seemed like a good way to get noticed by his loyalty to her. After that year though, he stopped liking her, and people used her against him. In this case; Coati was using it against him to help him out.

It was a fine cause, Coati thought. Sure, Qibli might drop a _tiny_ bit in his grades. But he sure as heck knew enough to get by with A minuses. Coati wouldn't be slowing him down, he'd be _helping_ him out. And by helping, he meant getting Qibli a girlfriend, which was _always_ help.

"Fine," Qibli muttered, and reached down for his soda. Coati handed it up to him, grinning.

"Awesome. Now, when do I meet her?" Qibli jerked up, and pulled out his phone. "Well, it's a good start that you have her phone number." Qibli nodded absently, put in a password, and then started typing again. Coati heaved himself up, went around the couch, leaned against the back of it, and watched Qibli text a person that had an ID of _Moon._ "Nice," Coati said.

 _Hey Moon, do you guys mind if I bring my friend? He says he wants to meet all of you… if you don't want to, then it's ok._

Qibli sent it, and Coati hung an arm around his shoulder.

"That, my friend, is how you introduce a guy to a girl: friend to friend, and if you don't want to, it's fine?" Qibli rolled his eyes and looked over his shoulder at Coati, who removed his arm and splayed himself over a chair.

"Nah, you gotta be more… well, not demanding, but more firm. Like, for example, Dear girl, whoever you might be, I'm gonna invite my friend to wherever we're going for whatever reason. I thought you'd be cool with it, and if I'm mistaken, lemme know. Then finish off with one of those typed wink faces." Coati grinned, and could tell Qibli knew what was coming next.

"Winks work wonders," they said in unison. Both laughing, they heard the ding off Qibli's phone, and he picked it up again. Coati waited, his hands folded across his chest, staring longingly at the soda he had left on the floor by the couch Qibli was on.

"'Sure, we picked a table with six spots, and four of them are currently filled since obviously Carnelian wasn't coming. Hurry a bit though; Winter is about to go order, and me and Kinkajou are looking over the menu. Won't be long before we eat the place out.'" Qibli showed Coati the screen, and he noticed at the end of the message was a typed face. :P.

"Bro, you got yourself a meet-and-greet to get to. And I'm coming too." Laughing, Qibli pocketed his phone, grabbed his soda, gulped down what was left, and handed Coati his as he got up from the chair and walked over. They left, locking the door behind them, and Coati assuring Qibli he had a set of lockpick wires. Qibli rolled his eyes, and set off down the street towards the cafe.

 _Well,_ Coati thought, _It's gone good enough. Wonder what she'll look like… well, I mean, obviously what Qibli described her like, but that only gives you such a good image. Hmm, I wonder…_ Coati busied himself with pointless thoughts, and absently started walking.

When he looked back up, Qibli was a good fifty feet down the road from him, running. Rolling his eyes at nothing, Coati sprinted to catch up, and then settled into an easy run alongside Qibli.

He realized he still had his soda, which he was surprised hadn't sloshed everywhere, but he drank all of it quickly, throwing it basketball-style into a trashcan nearby. The neighbor scowled as he walked outside, and warned Coati not to do it again. Running, Coati only caught a few words, and ignored all of them.

Four minutes later, they were both outside the cafe, catching their breath. It didn't take long; they both knew how to run long distances without getting tired too easily. It was another skill among many that had helped in the Scorpion District.

Qibli pushed open the door and headed over to a group of four sitting at a table. Coati could see an Ice, a Rain, a Night, and a Sea. He quickly sorted out the names he knew.

The Ice, he guessed, was Winter, and the Night was most definitely Moonwatcher. She was very pretty, but Coati wasn't interested in her. For three reasons. One, Qibli was his best friends, two, she was a Night, and three, yes, she could-

He thought of his dad's cadillac. It was black with red flames against the sides, and it had caused him and mom to get a divorce. The Night glanced at him, shook her head, and went back to talking to the Sea and Rain. Qibli walked over, sat down in a chair by the Rain, and nodded at a seat across from him for Coati.

The seat next to it occupied the Ice, and Coati guessed Qibli either didn't like him or thought of him as a prank friend. Either way, Coati sat down, and looked at the menu.

"Hi Qibli." Moon said as soon as he sat down. Qibli concealed a grin, and Coati guessed Moon didn't noticed.

"Hey Moon." He nodded at Coati. "This is my friend by the way. Coati meet Moon, Winter, Kinkajou, and Turtle?" He said the last name questionably, as if he'd never met the guy before. The Sea nodded, and KInkajou beamed a smile at Coati.

"Hi!" Her hair shifted from brown to bright blond, then back to brown. Coati tried not to let the sudden shift mess with his vision, and blinked out black spots. Winter gave him a once-over, and then snorted.

Yup, that answered Coati's question. He was in a higher class than everyone else; maybe even royalty. Coati put on his most crooked grin, and Winter turned his head away in disgust. Qibli kicked Coati's leg under the table, and grinned at him. Coati grinned back, and looked up at the menu.

There were several items on the menu, and besides, Coati had no idea what anything tasted like. Even though he had moved to Jade Mountain six months ago, he didn't go out much for one, and for two, he didn't have a ton of money he could spend on whatever he wanted.

So, bored, he walked up to the line and dug around in his pockets for a few dollars. Qibli joined him, and handed him a ten dollar bill. No, Qibli wasn't rich either, but he had a bit more money than Coati did. And besides, Qibli bet so much, he would probably get it back in the next two days. A dollar here, a dollar there, soon added up to a lot.

"What're you getting?" Moon asked, as she walked up behind them. Kinkajou followed, and soon everyone but Winter was in the line.

Qibli spoke first. "Four biscuits, a milkshake thing, and probably a sandwich." Moon seemed a bit startled.

"Well, I mean, that's quite a bit, but whatever works." She smiled and turned to Coati.

"What about you?" _Hmmm, decisions, decisions._

"Welp, guess I'll just get something to eat, because honestly, I don't even know what they have, or what it tastes like, or if I'll want it. And possibly a smoothie." Moon laughed a little.

"Kinkajou?" The little Rain bounced in excitement.

"A double strawberry smoothie, and a mango." Turtle was still examining the menu when Moon asked him.

"Um, a coffee?" Moon's eyes crinkled into a smile. Qibli quickly spoke up again.

"What about you, Moon?" She paused.

"Well, I think I'll get a blueberry smoothie with a blueberry muffin to go with it." She looked down and smiled. "If you can't tell, I really like blueberries." Qibli gave a smirk-type smile.

"Yeah, I gathered that." She smiled up at him, and Coati noticed that she acted like they were best friends or something. And, according to Qibli, they had literally met this morning. Well, as long as he was getting closer. Coati quickly filled up his head with random thoughts, making sure he didn't think about anything important again.

They all reached the front of the line, and Coati leaned against the counter. A bored looking Sky was behind the counter, rubbing her fingernails across her palm.

"What can I get for you?" She asked, looked up at him. When he gave her his most charming smirk, her eyes stopped wandering and locked on his. Still smirking, he looked up at the menu, breaking contact.

"Well, what's best?" He questioned casually, and her eyebrow popped up. They locked eyes again, and this time she was the one who broke eye contact. Looking up, she pointed to a small chalkboard that had on it in bright green chalk; Peppermint Ice Cream With Cherries, Daily Special! Coati nodded.

"Then I'll have that." She quickly glanced up into his eyes, looked over her shoulder and called to someone, and then turned to look purposely behind Coati, as if looking to see who she was dealing with next. Coati shifted so she couldn't look behind him, and they locked eyes once more.

"What's your name?" He asked, another smirk forming.

"Poppy," she answered, and folded her hands on the counter. "Yours?" His smirk morphed into a sly smile.

"Coati." She nodded, and then grew suddenly fidgety. Coati knew everyone from Qibli's friend group was watching him, so he slowly let his flirty act fade.

He waited in silence until she handed the ice cream, and nodded at Qibli behind him. Coati thanked Poppy, handed her the ten, took his change, and sat down by Winter again. Coati wolfed it down, and then watched everyone else order.

Qibli was wrapping up his order, and Coati waited until he sat down beside him. At the exact time Qibli sat down with his breakfast-sized snack, Winter got up and went to the back of the line. Qibli had a smile playing in his eyes.

"Well, he hates you," Coati said, licking the bowl that the ice cream came in. Qibli snorted a laugh and bit into a biscuit.

" _Nooo,"_ Qibli said, drawing out the word and coating it with sarcasm. Coati didn't pay attention that much, and was staring at Moon.

"Hush child, I'm trying to listen to your future girlfriend." Qibli snapped his head around, and apparently his foot snapped out at the same time, kicking Coati in the leg again.

"Oof, watch it please. My leg isn't made of steel, even though my muscles might very well be." Qibli's mouth twitched, and then he laughed.

"Sadly, far from it my friend. _Far_ from it." It was Coati's turn to laugh, and by that time Moon was coming back to the table with her blueberry items.

She took a bite from her muffin, and then pulled a book out of _nowhere._ She sat there, reading and eating and drinking, while Coati tried to think about a movie he had watched, and while Qibli ate his "snack." Kinkajou came back next, sipping on her strawberry smoothie.

Moon put her book in her seat and started chatting with Kinkajou. Qibli rattled off some joke, but Coati didn't hear it. The only thing he noticed was that Winter from the line kept looking back at Moon, who didn't seem to notice, but must have since she was probably reading his m- Moon's head snapped up and she stared at Coati. Coati, luckily, had enough time to change his thought to "mood," and Kinkajou looked up at Coati surprised.

"What's a'matter Moon?" Moon's eyes widened, and Qibli glared at Coati. Coati managed to put a confused face on, and forcibly made himself think about sleek cars.

"Nothing," Moon answered, shaking her head. "I just thought I saw something move, but it was nothing." Kinkajou looked confused, but went back to talking to Moon.

"Me and Coati are gonna go outside, we better figure out what time his mom wants him back," Qibli lied smoothly, and Moon nodded absently, tugging on a strand of her long black hair. Coati made sure he was thinking about the times he spent with his mom, and followed Qibli outside. They walked a ways, sitting down on a bench about fifty feet from the shop.

"What were you thinking?" Qibli asked, staring at Coati. Coati kicked the ground, and muttered.

"Sorry, I let my thoughts get ahead of my logic thoughts." Qibli snorted, and then grinned.

"Wait, what are you talking about? I thought we talked about this. _I_ have all the logic thoughts, _you_ have all the run-everywhere-and-rat-us-out thoughts." Coati laughed too, and then rubbed the back of his neck.

"I'll be more careful, I promise." Just then, Coati's phone rung. Brows furrowing, he took it out of his pocket at looked at the caller ID. He shrugged at Qibli, and pressed the talk button. There was no caller ID, and he also didn't recognize the number.

"Hello?" Coati asked into the phone. A deep, rouge voice spoke.

" _We have your mother. Drop off a sum of 1,000 dollars cash at the address 132, Kael Street. If you want to see her alive again."_ The caller hung up, and Coati looked startled.

"Ok, well, that was unexpected." Coati told Qibli what he had heard, and Qibli suggested he should call his mom.

Coati dialed her number, and waited. On the third ring, a deep voice answered, " _What?"_ It was the same voice the caller had been. Coati snorted, and then mouthed to Qibli who it was.

"Mom, don't you think the whole, _hand over 1,000 dollars cash_ trick is a bit old?" His mother, back in her normal voice, cursed loudly and hung up. Coati rolled his eyes and told Qibli what happened.

"Man, your mom is whacked up. I mean, mine sold me, but yours wants 1,000 dollars cash from you? That's possibly more screwed up that my mom." Coati smiled grimly.

"Well, that's mom for ya." He pocketed his phone, and remembered why he was actually outside.

"Oh, should I go home now? Won't at least someone, probably your girlfriend, be suspicious?" Qibli rolled his eyes.

"Y'know, she's _not_ my girlfriend, and possibly will never be. But yeah, although I hate to just blow you off." Coati shrugged.

"It's fine man. Just let me know how it goes," he added with a grin. Coati took off down the sidewalk, heading back home.

 _That was eventful,_ he thought.

 **Ok, so here's another question for you guys to think about. Should Coati or Qibli slip, and let Moon find out they know, or be able to keep it secret? This is one of the main reasons for my writer's block, so if you guys could help, that'd be great. Thanks for reading!**


	9. A Short Story - Peril

**Look, I got my chapter done! *Crickets chirp* Fine, I'll just read it to myself. It's another short story - sorry! I had this wrote a while back, and forgot to post it. I'm working on the next chapter of the storyline right now - hint - it's Kinkajou next. So yeah, a bundle of colorful story plot coming up. *More crickets* Fine, I'll keep my weird jokes to myself. I'll bore less people that way. ANYWAYS, have fun reading!**

Peril's POV

Yes, she knew she was cursed. Yes, she knew it wasn't her fault. And yes, she did still accidentally burn people.

"Hey, watch it fire-touch!" Snapped a dragon as Peril went by. She ducked her head, trying to hide herself in her black hoodie. She wanted to pull the strings tighter, but she didn't want to take her hands out of her pockets. As she walked, people cleared away from her, casting her scared glances.

 _Well,_ she thought, _at least no one expects me to be social._ She felt with her fingers for her phone, hidden safely inside her hoodie pocket. She pulled it out, and walked over to a stone fountain. Even though she was wearing jeans, there might be an accident, and she didn't want to get sued for burning down the school.

She put in her letter coded password, fsleam, which was the word flames scrambled up, and then started to text Clay. Then she stopped, erased the message, and put her phone back into her hoodie pocket.

 _Stupid, why would he want to text you when he has work to be done? Buffets to fill, hungry college students to feed. Even though he's the only person you_ can _text, that doesn't mean you_ actually _text him. Shut up Peril,_ she thought to herself, and got back up. Her hoodie sleeve had been pushed up a bit, so when she walked back into the crowd, she accidentally touched one of them with her arm. The Sea cussed, and glared at her.

"Frick, watch where you're going! You're gonna kill someone, and I don't want to be that unlucky dragon." Peril shrugged, pushed down her sleeve, and then walked towards the door of the college. When she got there, she didn't go inside, but skirted around to the back of the building. There was a landing halfway up the brick wall, and she climbed up the stainless steel steps to the top. When she took the last step, she felt the presence of someone else, and clenched her fist inside her pocket.

"W-" she started, looking up, but stopped when she saw Clay standing there, a small smile on his tanned face. "O-Oh, hi Clay." His grin grew, and he shuffled his feet.

"Hi Peril. I thought that, y'know, you could use some company. And since no one seems to be talking to you, or at least talking to your face anyways…" Peril snorted and carefully walked by him, splaying herself on a couch that was outside. It had burn marks, and was also a tiny bit damp, but Peril didn't mind.

"Well, it's not exactly my fault everyone either hates me or is scared of me because of something I was born with." Clay blew his brown bangs out of his face, and sat down on a chair that was also burnt, but wasn't damp.

"Hey, I don't care that you were born that way. It makes you you." He looked down at the floor. Peril felt her heart soar, then tugged it back down, imagining it burned when she touched it.

"Yeah," she said lamely. She tried to make up for it by asking him a question. "Aren't you supposed to be helping kids and stuff?" He looked back up at her, his air of uncomfortableness lost.

"Oh, I let Sora fill the buffets, and Deathbringer came by, so the people at the counter have plenty of help." Peril nodded and absent-mindley pulled on her sleeve.

"What are you gonna to tonight when everyone is settled?" Peril immediately wanted to take the question back. To her it sounded like if he wasn't doing anything (if movies were anything to go by) then she would have to ask him to a date, which she was _not_ brave enough to do. So she quickly scrambled to make up for it.

"Like, I mean, not what are you doing, but like, do you have plans or... Wait no, I meant-" Clay cut her off with a laugh.

"I was thinking about seeing if Starflight needed help with the books, and if not, then I was just gonna go out and get some more food." Peril quickly nodded, and unconsciously pulled her hood slightly tighter.

"That's cool," she said lamely again. _Wow Peril,_ she thought to herself, _you really can't help but saying lame things to him, can you?_

"I might not have to buy any food though, depending how much the guys eat tonight. If I don't, maybe…" he trailed off and kicked the ground a bit sheepishly, "Maybe, I dunno, we could hang out…?" Peril had to reign in her frantically beating-of-joy heart again.

"Sure!" She said quickly, then reprashed it.

"I mean, yeah, if you want to…" She almost smacked herself in the face. _And you wonder why he doesn't like you,_ her thoughts intoned, and, feeling slightly mad/disgusted at herself, she got up off the couch.

"Do ya' want a soda?" Clay thought for a second.

"Sure, whatcha got?" Peril went over to her small steel refrigerator and opened it up, looking inside. She recited what she saw.

"Water, Coke, Pepsi, Dr. Pepper, Sprite, Orange Crush, and Peach Fanta." She saw Clay out of the corner of her eye looked mildly surprised when she said the last flavor, but quickly hid it and answered.

"Uhm, Pepsi, I guess." Peril grabbed a Pepsi and a water bottle. She handed the soda to Clay, careful not to touch him. Even though he was mostly resistant to fire, she knew it still hurt. Returning to her couch and making sure not to melt the plastic, she took a drink of her water. Clay popped open his soda and chugged it, then wiped off his mouth with his arm. Peril indicated he should throw it to her, and he tossed it lightly over to her. It was a bit high, but her hand shot up and gripped the aluminum.

"C'mon," she whispered very quietly to herself. She had been working on a trick. If she concentrated enough, she could flare up the heat inside of her, and melt softer metals. Once, she had accidentally melted a rod of steel because someone had kicked her in the shins without getting burnt because she was wearing jeans. Peril had maybe "accidentally" set him on fire, but there was fountain nearby, so he didn't die.

Focusing, the aluminum started to melt, and soon she had a puddle of metal in her palm. Bored, she swallowed the rest of her water, and melted the plastic too. With a finger, she swirled the aluminum around, making sure it stayed in its liquid form. SHe sculpted a small tree with twisting branches that was surprisingly artistic, and Clay smiled at her.

"That's really cool. You should help Celestial teach metalworking. I'm sure the students would love it." Peril shrugged, but then thought again.

"Are you sure?" She asked, setting the tree down on the couch beside her.

"Positive. If you want, I can have you start tomorrow so everyone would know who you were. Of course," he added hurriedly when Peril begun to look doubtful, "You wouldn't have to be there all the time, just drift in and out whenever you wanted. Like a special guest type of thing?" Peril thought about it. Yeah, it would probably be fun, and it was obvious Clay wanted her to. Before she could think of anything to dissuade her from her decision, she spoke up.

"Yeah, that sounds really cool. If you don't mind though," she added, looking a bit embarrassed, "Could I not go tomorrow? I just don't want everyone to quit the class because they think I'll be their teacher."

"Sure, if you want. Although I'm sure _some_ of them would appreciate you being there," he reassured with a small smile.

"Thanks," Peril said, smiling back a little. Clay got to his feet.

"Well, I better go make sure Sora didn't blow the kitchen up. See you later?" Peril also got up, and hid a slightly disappointed look.

"Yeah, see ya'." She waved, and watched as Clay retreated down the metal steps, and went back around the school. _Well,_ she thought, sitting back down and realizing what happened. _Looks like I'm a part time teacher now._

 ** _Wooo, teacher Peril let's go! I'm not sure who is going to be in that class - if anyone. I'm currently accepting OC's (Own Characters) for some random dragons I'll be adding. If I get none - there will be no random dragons, and I'll just go by the book. The OC time line will probably end quickly if I get none. You're free to continue your day - have a good afternoon!_**


	10. Chapter 6 - Kinkajou

**Guys, I did it! I finished this chapter; finally. The poll for the story is sadly going down today; no one voted! I have figured some things out; like a general direction of where the story is going. Also, if I don't post again soon - as in a few days - it's because I'm doing a time lapse chapter next, so I have to work out the details on that. I hope you enjoy this chapter; it seemed short and horrible to me, but oh well.**

Kinkajou

"Aw, did Coati have to go back home?" Kinkajou asked, taking a sip of her double strawberry smoothie. Qibli nodded as he sat back down. _Oof,_ Kinkajou thought, _he seemed nice. I was looking forward to chatting with him._ Qibli gulped down another biscuit.

"Kinkajou," Moon suddenly said, looking at the Rain.

"Yeah?" Kinkajou took a fork and speared a cube of mango in front of her, popping it in her mouth.

Moon opened her mouth, closed it, then tried again. "Did you think the dorm was cool?" Kinkajou knew that wasn't what she _wanted_ to say, but she played along.

"Oh, yeah, I especially liked the sunset wallpaper. The beds were super bouncy, but not like the hammocks in the Rain Kingdom. There was so much space too! And the curtains were the prettiest shade of lilac…" Kinkajou rattled on about what she liked and didn't especially care for about the dorm, and when she ran out of things to say, the whole table was staring at her.

"What?" She asked suspiciously. Qibli quickly shoved a biscuit in his mouth, Moon ducked her head, Winter started texting someone, and Turtle just stared at Kinkajou with his mouth slightly agape. "What's wrong Turtle?"

"N-Nothing, it's just…" he rubbed his arm a bit awkwardly. "I guess I've never heard anyone talk that much, let alone about a single topic." His face flushed, and he quickly tried to take back his words.

"Not that I care, I mean, I don't care if you talk a lot, but I guess everyone I've met has just been quieter." Out of the corner of her eye, Kinkajou saw Qibli choke on his biscuit when he tried to hide a laugh. Moon looked up quickly from where her eyes were fixed on the floor.

"Are you ok?" She asked Qibli in a slightly worried voice. He choked once more, took the _hugest_ gulp ever, (in Kinkajou's opinion,) and then cleared his throat a few times.

"Yeah, fine," he said, his voice rough, and then cleared his throat a bit more. Kinkajou heard Winter laugh a little, then return to tapping his phone's keyboard.

Moon handed Qibli his drink, which was off to the side, and he thanked her, taking a long drink. They all sat in relative silence for a while, texting, eating, and sipping their drinks until everything was gone.

"Well, what do you guys want to do now?" Kinkajou asked, a little bored. Winter spoke up, a scowl on his handsome face. (Also Kinkajou's opinion.)

"Well, we could all just go back to the dorm and behave like reasonable college students." Kinkajou stuck out her tongue at him.

"Ha-ha, very funny. No, seriously, I'm bored, and I can't _stand_ being bored. In the rainforest we had all sorts of fun games," she added, just a little wistfully.

"I don't know Kinkajou," said Qibli, who had ate the sandwich in two bites. "I think maybe we _should_ go back to the dorm, and get some rest before tomorrow. As much as I _hate_ to agree with Winter," he added slyly. Winter just glared at him as he returned to his phone _again._ Kinkajou wondered what would happen if-

Less time for wondering, more time for doing! She got up, went around Moon at her chair at the head of the table, and snatched the phone right out of Winter's hands.

He jumped, and then glared at Kinkajou with the force of a volcano. "Give. It. Back," he said, his jaw clenching. Kinkajou made a face.

"No," she said defiantly, and held it just out of Winter's reach; obviously teasing him. "C'mon, have a little _fun,_ " she whined when he made a swipe for his phone, another handsome scowl coming onto his face. (Kinkajou has a few interesting opinions, does she not?)

"Oh, by all the moons!" He threw up his hands, and Kinkajou was startled, so her hand holding the phone fell a bit. Winter made another grab for it, brushing the casing, but Kinkajou snatched it away just in time again.

"All right guys, that's enough," came Qibli's voice from very close. While everyone had been distracted, he had come up stealthily behind the fighting dragons. He quickly grabbed the phone from Kinkajou, and handed it back to Winter, who glared daggers at Qibli, even though he had just done him a favor.

"Children, please, it was a phone, nothing to argue over," said Qibli in a mocking voice. Kinkajou fluffed up, and her hair was shot-through with bright scarlet streaks.

"I'm not a child!" She said defensively. Winter didn't say anything, but made his I-hate-all-of-you face, and stood up.

"Well, since _you all_ are acting like _children,_ I'm going back to the semi-quietness of my dorm room." And with that he left the cafe, the bell dinging behind him. Suddenly, a bought of laughter made the dorm-mates look behind them. At the cafe's counter bar, a group of dragons were laughing loudly.

"Ahaha, you showed him!" Said one of them; an Ice. Another Ice spoke up, laughing so hard his breath was coming out in puffs.

"Ooooh, that _pooour_ Prince got so _fed up_ with you _alllllll,_ " he said, and started choking as he laughed.

"Hey, we weren't _trying_ to make him leave, he just did!" Kinkajou was a ball of annoyance, why couldn't they just mind their own business?

Qibli casted a _don't-say-anything-else_ look at Kinkajou, and turned to the group of Ices. "Don't you have something better to do than make fun of an idiot? As if enough people don't make fun of him. Can't you all just find someone _new_ to insult, and actually have _fun_ when right now you're just showing off for them." Qibli pointed to a group of Sands at the back, all girls, watching the confrontation. The two boy Ices looked down and growled, while the tWo girls just looked haughtily at the Sands, who quickly turned back around and kept talking.

Qibli turned to face the table again as the Ices all shut up. He shrugged. "That was easy," he said, and laced his hands on the table. Moon was looking at him like he was a demigod, and Turtle was just lost. Kinkajou felt her hair turn bright yellow, and Qibli shielded his eyes.

"Kinkajou, I would love it if you could tune that down a bit. It wasn't on my bucket list to go blind." Kinkajou grinned a little and made her hair, at the ends, fit in with her surroundings, so that it looked like she had shorter hair. She turned the visible part a brown/blonde, trying to remember what that one girl had looked like from that one movie.

She gave up trying to remember, and just let her hair settle more brown than blonde. Turtle blinked a few times, and then widened his eyes again; they had been squinted. Qibli put down his arm, and Moon turned her head back towards Kinkajou.

"Well…" she trailed off, not knowing what to say. Qibli picked up, and filled in the blank.

"Who thinks it's time for a Divergent marathon?" Kinkajou tilted her head, she didn't know what Divergent was. Then she remembered the girl she had been trying to imitate; Tris. She giggled, and Moon nodded excitedly. Turtle just shrunk a little in his seat, but made a weak attempt at a nod.

"Great!" Clapping his hands together, and keeping them intertwined, stood up. "To the dorm?" They all exited, Turtle with his head down, Moon idly messaging her palms, Qibli taking the lead and humming a little as he gradually lengthened his stride more and more. Kinkajou just trotted besides Moon and Turtle, and then had to skip a little when Qibli picked up the pace again.

 _Tall people,_ she thought to herself ruefully as they arrived back at the school; Kinkajou panting for breath. _They walk so fast sometimes…_ They all skirted the elevator without thinking, and took the steps two at a time. Kinkajou struggled to keep up, and felt her "short" hair go dark purple with frustration, but switched it back quickly.

They reached their floor, and Qibli went in first, swinging the door aside. Winter was inside, watching a movie called Winchester, or at least, that's what the box said. Qibli glanced at the tv and grinned.

"As much as that movie is awesome, we need to borrow the tv for a bit. We're gonna go through Divergent, and I didn't bring a spare tv with me." Qibli looked over his shoulder at everyone else.

"Anyone bring an extra tv? Nope, didn't think so," he answered himself, and turned back to Winter, who was grumbling something about peacefulness and ice.

"Sure, go ahead." Winter sighed and handed the remote to Qibli, who's grin grew. He clapped Winter on the back, and the Prince stumbled forward a bit.

"You're awesome. So, who's up for some Tris and Four?" Kinkajou plopped down on a bean bag by the wall, and then hopped right back up. She searched the cabinets as the others got settled. Finally finding the cardboard box, she grabbed five packages of popcorn. She put one in the microwave and hit the button, and then did the same for the other four bags. She giggled to herself; she had thought Four. Technically, he was Tobias, but who liked that name? Certainly not Kinkajou. Four was a way hotter name.

Ripping open the bags, watching the steam seep out, she dumped the bags into bowls and then passed them out. Winter had gone to his room, and Kinkajou set her bowl by her bean bag.

She went over to Winter's room's door, and then knocked cheerfully. The door sprang open, and she took a step back. Winter was right in front of her, holding the edge of the door with a pale hand. His blue hair was messed up, as if he had been doing something before Kinkajou had interrupted.

"Wanna watch with us?" She asked, sounding very up-beat. Winter scowled in his heroic, tragically tortured, Princely way.

"No." He started to shut the door, but Kinkajou slipped her hand inside and grabbed the edge near his hand. She could feel the cold coming off, and then tried again. "I made you popcorn," she suggested, and Winter immediately released the door.

"Popcorn, I will go for," he said, and then brushed back Kinkajou back to the main room. Rolling her eyes, Kinkajou followed, and sat back down on her bean bag while Winter pulled over a chair from the mini-kitchen. Qibli started the movie, and they all watched it silently.

"Screw you Marcus," Moon said forcefully when the scene came up where Tris and Four were in his fear landscape, and he was about to get beat by his father, Marcus. The belt lashed down, and Kinkajou shrieked a little, but when she opened her eyes, Tris had stepped forward and taken the blow. Four punched his father in the jaw, and the simulation ended.

"Whew," Kinkajou said, and ate another handful of popcorn.

The rest of the movies were mostly silent, the exception of a few tears, most coming from Kinkajou.

"What?" She asked when the credits for the last movie started rolling. "It was _sad._ Or, at least, when her mom and dad die, and when she shoots Will, and when-" she would have gone on, but Moon had glanced at her with that, _we-get-it please-stop-talking_ look. Kinkajou shrugged, and bit down on a popcorn kernel. It busted, sending dry flakes through her mouth, and Kinkajou fought the urge to choke. _**(If the description of the movie was a little short, or bad, it's because I still need to watch them all. Don't judge; I'mma very busy person. Totally.)**_

"All right," Qibli said, and got up off the couch he and Turtle had shared. The clock said ten o'clock, and Kinkajou yawned. Qibli raised an eyebrow, a smirk tugging at his mouth. "Bedtime for the juniors," he said lightly. Kinkajou didn't get the joke; until, she realized, she was the size of a junior. With a huff, she picked up a popcorn kernel and flicked it at him. He grinned and snapped out a fist, his hand closing around the airborne projectile. Laughing now, he popped it in his mouth, and crunched down. Moon laughed a little, Winter snorted, and Turtle slouched down further.

Qibli, a smile still on his face, went towards his room, Winter behind him, and Turtle behind the arrogant Prince. When Qibli was almost there, he stopped dead, and Winter almost ran into him.

"Watch it," he said angrily, and pushed around Qibli and headed to the boy's room. Turtle seemed to squirm within his own skin, and he quietly followed Winter that way. Moon nodded, then tired to hide it.

"I wonder where Umber is," Qibli said thoughtfully. "Ten o'clock. Mud's are usually in their huts or whatever by eleven…" No sooner had the words slipped from his mouth, a door screaked down the hallway, and the unmarked door opened. Kinkajou felt her dress turn white with pale green stripes, and immediately turned it back to cream. A small but strong frame came out from the partial darkness, and Kinkajou knew it was a Mud by the mud colored… everything. His eyes were the color of mud, his hair was the color of mud, even his skin looked a little like mud. It was darkly tanned, as if he had spent a lot of time outdoors. Winter and Turtle stopped short at the door.

"Hi Umber," Moon said, and then looked down at her feet, which shuffled against the carpet. Qibli looked startled for a second, then stepped up and held out his hand.

"Hey, I'm Qibli, by the way." Umber gingerly shook Qibli's hand, and then looked down.

"Hello everyone," he said; rather quietly. Kinkajou rocked on her heels. No one seemed _excited._ It was _college._ How were they _not_ excited?

"This is Winter," Moon said, and gestured the the Prince, who looked bored. He stiffened, and cooly corrected Moon.

"Prince Winter," he said, and then vanished into the boy's room. Kinkajou shrugged, and Umber smiled slightly.

" _Anyways,"_ Qibli emphasized, and rolled his eyes. "That's Kinkajou," he nodded towards her, "and that's Turtle." He looked at the other Prince, and then back to Umber. "Carnelian is in the girl's room, but trust me; you don't really want to meet her. She tried to throw a sword at Winter when he met her, sooo…"

Umber shrugged, and bit his lip. "Is that the room I have to stay in?" he asked tentatively, and nodded toward the door Winter went through. Qibli laughed.

"He's warmer than he seems. And also, yes, it is. Didn't Clay give you a tour or something?" Why would Clay give Umber a tour, Kinkajou wondered. He wasn't special or anything; just another Mud; right? She looked closely at Umber, but wouldn't tell anything from his face or clothing. Then a voice whispered in the back of her mind.

 _Clay has siblings,_ it said, and went through the ones it knew. _Marsh, Umber, Reed, Sora, I think another, and a dead sister; Crane._ Kinkajou was sad; she was sad Clay had lost his sister.

"No," Umber said, and rubbed his arm with his other hand. He looked uncomfortable. "He said he had to talk to someone… I think he said her name. Wait a second…" he said, and looked deeper in thought. Qibli tilted his head a little.

"Peril, right?" Qibli said, and Umber looked startled but nodded.

"Did he talk to you too?" He asked, sounding a little; just a teensy bit; jealous.

"No," Qibli said, looking almost embarrassed. "It just seemed logical. I mean they're friends, and she doesn't have many, so I just thought, 'Hey, he would go see her first, right?'" He exhaled a little breath, and looked at the toes of his sneakers.

"That's smart," said Umber, still sounding shocked.

"We were gonna turn in… want me to help you unpack?" Qibli was trying his best to change the subject, and it seemed to work.

"Sure," Umber said, and worked to hide the tint of excitement. "I mean, if you want to…" Qibli laughed a little and went towards the room; Umber on his heels. Turtle waved a little, and followed them in. Moon shrugged, and eyes the girl's room door.

"Truthfully, I'm scared to go in," she said, and Kinkajou shrugged. Sure, a scary dragon with a knife is scary; but she was certain that Carnelian wouldn't throw it at Kinkajou. She turned the knob, and all she saw was a flash of silver, and a knife was sticking handle-out from the door; two inches from Kinkajou's head. Kinkajou shrieked, and felt her dress and hair go white, ruining the effect of her looking like Tris.

"Sorry," Carnelian muttered, and grabbed the knife, tucking it back into a leather holder at her waist. "Just find a bed and go to sleep do you can't annoy me." She stepped back from the door, and sat down on her bed, continuing to sharpen another knife. Kinkajou stepped lightly, and made her way over to a bed on the left wall. It was near the middle; and Kinkajou's stuff was already there. She frowned. She didn't _remember_ putting it there, but she forgot stuff all the time. She laid down and pushed the covers back.

"Night Moon, night Carnelian," Kinkajou said around a yawn, and tugged the covers up under her chin. She very dimly felt her head hit the pillow, and then she was out. A day of excitement and making new friends can do that to you, she would figure tomorrow. Little did she know; it wasn't only exhaustion.


	11. Chapter 7 - Moon

**Hey guys! Guess what? THE PROPHECY IS CHANGED! And I have this new chapter out! The ending is a little weird, but I needed to give the college students a reason to start their journey. This chapter is mostly fun and games; also a hint about Moon's love life that will remain dormant for now. I hope to eventually get to Moonbli, but it won't be for a while. I'm learning not all ships happen immediatly...**

 **Also, I'm going to set a poll up in my profile. If you don't know how to find a poll, here's how it works for me. If I want to find a poll for someone, I click on thier profile. (If you're doing mine, Cobalt the SeaWing.) Then at the** ** _very_** **top, up above their profile picture, there is a little bar that says the poll question, and on the right side of the bar is where you vote. My poll is going to be for which story I should work on more, since I don't have a lot of free time on my hands. I also have a question for everyone reading.**

 **Would anyone like to help me choose a draft of a FanFic I'm writing? It's a Divergent FanFic, and since I'm lazy, if you** ** _want_** **to help me choose a draft to use, look at my Hunger Games last chapter. (No, I'm not encouraging you to read the story. It sucks. Feel** ** _very_** **free to skip tp the remake note and just read it. It's at the bottom.)**

 **I want to quickly thank everyone who's stuck with me during this story. You all are awesome, and I couldn't have made it this far without your ideas. Special thanks to Brian H. H who helped me with this chapter. If you have any ideas, feel free to PM me about them.**

 **Hands steady, eyes ready, READ! (I'm weird, don't ask.)**

 _Moon_

Moon loved school. She really did. But why did it have to be so _boring?_

The last bell rang, and Moon gladly packed her bag. Slinging it over her shoulder by one strap, she hurried out of her classroom. She took the stairs along with another group of kids; but stayed near the back of the group in fear of getting trampled. Legs burning, she made it to the fifth floor, and pushed open the door of the dorm.

And stopped. Moving.

Qibli had cleared the mini-kitchen island off, and had piled on it note cards. Moon was scared to even ask; like, _really_ scared. She started to take a step back, but the motion alerted Qibli, who's head popped up from the note card package he was unwrapping.

"Hey Moon, come help me?" Moon hid a sigh and went over to the island, dropping her bag on the couch as she went by.

"And what am I helping _with,_ may I ask?" Qibli stopped unwrapping his package of note cards and leaned against the island.

"Well, I was gonna play a game. And also, this is my 'Community Work' for the little-kid schools. I have to unwrap a hundred packages of note cards by tomorrow, and I _really_ wanted to play this game." He gave Moon a set of puppy-dog eyes, and she laughed softly.

"Ok ok, I'll help. What is this mysterious 'game' you speak of?" She picked up a package of note cards and started peeling off the plastic. Qibli finished his package, balled up the plastic, and threw it at Moon's head. Moon ducked, laughing, and threw her wad of plastic at him.

"It's a surprise!" He said in a sing-song voice, and caught the plastic ball; tossing it back. Moon laughed a little harder, and then grabbed the edge of the island.

"I feel like we should be unwrapping these, not trashing the dorm." Qibli chuckled, and threw another ball of plastic in the trash can.

"Fine; let's just hurry!"

 _Ten minutes later…_

"Done!" Moon tossed a last ball of plastic into the trash can, and leaned against the island. "Now, what's this game?" Qibli grinned and pulled out his phone.

"Just make sure we have everyone at the Park in fifteen, ok?" Moon rolled her eyes and pulled out her phone too.

"Still no answer for the game we're gonna be playing?" Qibli grinned.

"Nope."

 _FIFTEEN minutes later…_

"Ok guys, I have called us together for a very specific reason. I have realized that at this point in time, college is making us want to die. It's so boring, I'm pretty sure Kinkajou has lost the ability to change her hair to sparkly colors." Winter snorted to hide a laugh, and Kinkajou flared at Qibli's remark.

"HEY! I can too!" Her hair switched from dull blonde to a blinding pink. Qibli threw up his hands, as well as Winter.

Moon took the time to look around, just because she could. A giant oak tree canopied the five benches they were sitting on, and a cobbled square was in front of it. A small stone fountain trickled water weakly from the middle, and grass poked up between the sanded stones.

"Geez Kinkajou, I was just _kidding."_ Qibli peeked from between his fingers as Kinkajou switched to a duller-but-still-fairly-bright reddish color.

"There," she said with a huff, and Winter slowly took down his hands. Qibli brushed off his shirt as a comforting gesture for himself, and then folded his hands together in front of himself.

"Ok, _anyways,_ I have a game that I'm sure you all will love." He flashed a mischievous grin, and Moon refrained from getting the answer herself. _What_ was his game? The question was answered almost as soon as she thought it.

"Ever heard of _Truth or Dare?_ " Winter groaned, Kinkajou's hair grew a very bright streak of yellow, and Moon stopped from rolling her eyes. Truth or Dare. How very _Qibli_ of Qibli. He would enjoy himself so much here. His mind was complex enough to have already thought out at least three dares for everyone, and at least one truth.

"C'mon, Qibli, do we _seriously_ have to do this?" Winter complained dejectedly. Qibli's grin grew.

"Of course my friend! What fun we'll have!" He popped over to Winter's bench and threw an arm around his shoulder, using the other to gester at the girls.

"Fine," Winter muttered, and Qibli clapped him on the shoulder.

"Atta boy!" He went back to his own bench and left Winter muttering incoherently to himself. Qibli rubbed his palms together like the bad guy might in a movie.

"Who wants to go first?" Kinkajou's hand shot up as fast as she could possible could. Qibli flashed her a smile, and then hit his palm on his forehead.

"Y'know what I forgot?" Winter groaned again, and Kinkajou looked mildly confused. Moon waited for an answer; not wanting to pry into his mind quite yet. "To call Coati over. Lemme text him real quick; he'd love to play with us." He flipped his phone out of his pocket, shoved in a password, and started tapping at the screen keyboard.

 _ **Since I'm lazy…**_ _Five minutes later…_

"Who's turn is it?" Coati asked as he jogged into the Park, plopping down on Qibli's bench. Kinkajou looked down for about two split seconds, then brightened back up as Qibli answered.

"Kinkajou's getting asked first by me, then someone will get asked by Kinkajou." Coati nodded, and Qibli once again rubbed his hands together.

"Kinkajou," he said, a slow smile gathering on his face. "Truth or dare?"

"Dare!" She shouted, and when her hair went yellow with purple polka-dots, she hurriedly turned it back to the strawberry-red color.

"Alrighty. Kinkajou, I dare you to walk into a very fancy restaurant, scream 'COCONUTS ARE AWESOME', and make your shirt or dress go sky blue with coconuts on it." Kinkajou giggled, and then nodded fiercely.

"Time limit is two days, and for evidence I need someone to film it." Qibli looked greatly happy with his dare and instructions, and Kinkajou was a nodding storm.

"My turn!" She said excitedly, and turned to Moon. "Moon, truth or dare?"

"Ummm," Moon hesitated. She wanted desperately to dig into Kinkajou's head and find out what each choice would hold, but then again, what's the fun in that.

"Truth," she finally said, and figured, _what the heck? How could this ever go wrong?_

"Aw man, that's boring." Kinkajou's hair lost the vibrant sheen of red, and Moon could tell she was struggling to come up with something.

"Ok, well, since you went with the _totally boring_ option, I don't really have anything. I guess I'll just go first-grade with this." Kinkajou twirled her hair boredly, and Moon awaited her truth.

"Ok, Moon, is it true you have a crush on someone in this group?" Moon bit the inside of her cheek. No one would know if she lied. Heck, she wasn't even sure what _was_ a lie? Did she like any of them?

She looked around the circle. Qibli's wildly grinning face, his eyes flashing. Winter's blue hair falling over his face, looking greatly bored. Coati, his legs bouncing, looking happy to be with the group. Kinkajou, her red hair standing out (dimmer, but still red,) against the green background. Turtle, (who Moon had forgotten was there,) looking like he really didn't want to be here; or anywhere with people, for that matter.

 _Did_ she like any of them?

Wait, why was she even thinking about it? Just say no; if she lies, she lies. If it's the truth; there you go.

"Umm," she found herself saying, and bit down harder on the inside of her cheek. "I don't really know." Kinkajou rolled her eyes.

"Yes or no? It's not that hard." Moon's eyes flickered to everyone again.

"Yeah," she blurted, and then felt bad about it. Why couldn't she be normal and _not say anything?_ And then the thoughts came.

 _Wait, WHAT. Does she like me? Does she know I like her? What if she likes Winter?_ Qibli's furiously racing mind suddenly grew clouded, and the only words Moon could see through the shield were _Test next Tuesday, test next Tuesday._

 _Does she like me?_ Came the overwhelmingly small voice from Winter's mind. _Why do you care?_ He asked himself, and let a frown slip through.

Moon struggled to stop the thoughts. Did she like either of them? _What the flip_ was going on with her _mind._

"Or… not really," she thought again, and saw Coati puff out a breath. Qibli's thoughts halted to an abrupt stop, and it seemed like he was thinking through molasses. Winter fixed his eyes on the ground and gently tapped a finger on his knee.

"BORING!" Yelled Kinkajou, whose hair went dark red. Her shirt went black with red flames, before she switched her hair to platinum blonde, and her shirt to light pink. "Boring," said Kinkajou, using Moon's new nickname, "I guess it's your turn. But _please_ don't make it boring, Boring." Moon huffed.

"Whatever," she sighed, and looked around the group. "Winter, truth or dare?" His eyes slid over to hers before he just looked down again.

"Dare," he mumbled. Qibli held a hand to his ear, and when he spoke, he voice was loud.

"What was that? I couldn't _he-ear_ you!" Winter glared at Qibli.

"I said dare," he said, louder. Moon just shook her head at them.

"Ok, Winter, I dare you to break into Clay's office and rearrange the food in the mini-fridge." Winter's face went passive, and he nodded. "Take pictures of the food in the fridge before you move it, and then again after you've moved them. Uh… three day time limit."

"Easy," he said, and moved his gaze to Coati. "Coati, truth or dare?"

"Did you really even have to _ask?_ Dare my new group of friends. Always dare." He flashed a grin, and Winter just puffed a breath.

"Coati, I dare you to take a few cans of spray-paint and graffiti a side of the school. You have to have someone film you, and you have a time limit of three days."

"Yes! Something exciting!" Coati grinned, and Winter just rolled his eyes. "Hey, Turtle, truth or dare?" Coati asked, including the Sea.

"Um… truth, I guess." Turtle looked very nervous, and also like he would have rather been left out of this game.

"What's the most embarrassing show you've ever willingly watched?" Turtle still looked on edge, but not as much now that Coati had asked the truth.

"When I was about to go into first grade, me and my brothers all sat down and watched four episodes of My Little Pony because we wanted to know what the girls were all talking about." The group was silent for about three seconds. Turtle grew more uncomfortable with each passing one, and then the tension was eased as both Qibli and Coati burst out laughing. Winter started laughing too, and Kinkajou giggled. Moon bit her lip, trying not to laugh out loud, but grinned widely anyways.

"That… that's _hilarious,"_ Qibli said, pausing in his laughter for a few seconds. Turtle broke out in a grin, making him look more alive than any of them had ever seen.

Soon, the laughter died down, and it was Turtle's turn.

"Umm, Qibli, truth or dare."

"Dare; as my great friend Coa said, always dare." Coati laughed a little, and fist bumped Qibli.

"Ok, so um…" Moon could tell he was scrambling for an idea, and she decided to try something. She had found out if she concentrated very hard, she could _give_ thoughts to other people. She focused on Turtle's mind, which was still blank for her. She took an idea she had once heard, and fitted the image of the scene in his mind, and then waited for him to realize he had thought of it.

"I dare you," the words spilled out of his mouth, coming faster than normal, "to spill a can of red paint over the tallest public roof near the school, and leave a red-paint-splattered mannequin on the roof." Turtle looked shocked, and Qibli looked… well, if there was a word to describe what he looked like, it was unknown to Moon. Joyous. Elated. Thrilled. Thrilled was closest.

"Awesome! Time limit?" Turtle looked confused, and he answered slowly.

"Uhm, six days. And the evidence… umm, a before and after picture." Qibli smirked.

"I feel like the crowd of screaming people will let you know if I've done good or not, don't you think?" Turtle gave a small smile, and Moon saw Kinkajou's shirt grow a brighter pink. She quickly dimmed it down, acting like nothing ever happened.

"Is that all of us?" Qibli looked around the circle, and when everyone nodded, he clasped his hands together. With a sly grin, his next words were mischievous.

"Let's do this!"

 _Somewhere along the plot line of timeskips…_

 **Kinkajou's dare:**

"Moon, come _on,_ you have to film this!" Kinkajou's eyes were wide as she begged Moon to film her dare.

"Fine," Moon grumbled, finally giving in after ten minutes of arguing. Kinkajou had picked out Cheddar's for her dare, and Moon was instructed to go inside and wait for Kinkajou to come in. Then, Moon would film her as she did the dare, and then show Qibli the video.

"Ready?" Kinkajou asked, minutes later. They had gone to the dorm and Kinkajou had changed into a long, plain white dress that hovered right above her ankles. It was sleeveless, so at least Kinkajou wouldn't look like she was going to a wedding or something. It was smooth; no ruffles, no sequence, no lace bunches.

"Yeah," Moon said, and pushed open the door to Cheddar's. A waitress was waiting inside, and she quickly escorted Moon to a booth within view of the door.

"What can I get you to drink?" she asked kindly, flipping a menu down on the table and smiling.

"Just a water; thank you." The waitress nodded and disappeared. Moon had brought a little bit of money; it was Cheddar's; how could she possibly come and _not_ eat?

The doors burst open, and everyone in the place turned to look at the excited Rain in the doorway. Moon quickly pulled out her phone and taped the record button. It made a small beep, and she gave a thumbs-up to Kinkajou.

"Coconuts are awesome!" She said loudly, and her dress went sky blue; cut-in-half coconuts dotting the space. It was very realistic; several dragons laughed, and Moon found herself holding back a giggle. With another thumbs-up, Kinkajou left the restaurant grinning, and Moon settled down to order.

 **Winter's dare:**

Winter laid the note on Clay's desk. He slipped out of the office and wandered down the hall until he saw Clay enter his room. Winter started heading that way, and Clay came out.

"Oh, hey there Winter," Clay said casually, and walked past him out of the hallway. With a small grin, Winter went back to the office and pulled open the fridge.

"Moons of Pyrrhia," he said quietly, and took in the piles of food crammed inside the metal box. Pulling out his phone, he took several pictures of the jammed food. With a sudden spark of inspiration, he jerked it all out. He picked up an armful of the food, and hid the items around the room. Pushing a box of crackers under the couch in the office, Winter went back to the food on the floor. Packages of meat and cheese were spread out, and he carefully arranged them inside the fridge again.

"Done," he whispered to himself, and pulled out his phone again. He took a photo of the fridge as it was now, and then of some of the items he had hidden. With a grin, he left the office and walked down the hallway; hands in his pockets as if he had done nothing wrong at all.

 _Later in Clay's office…_

"NOOOO!" Clay yelled, and Sunny ran into his office.

"What's wrong Clay?" She asked, breathless.

"Someone moved my food!" He said, and Sunny burst out laughing.

"Have fun finding it Clay!" She said, and ducked out of the room again, chuckling.

 **Coati's dare:**

Coati shook up a can of spray-paint and grinned at Ostrich, who was holding his phone by the wall.

"This is gonna be so funny," she said, and giggled. Coati's grin grew, and he used all of his street lessons to start spraying paint on the side of the cafeteria. It was dark; yes; but he was still worried about getting caught, so he had chosen the side of the building where very few people went during the night.

He hummed a little tune as he sprayed more and more paint, switching colors often and layering the wall several times.

He stepped back after a while and admired his word. A large picture of Spiderman shooting a web was now portrayed on the wall, and Coati was proud of his work. With a final soft spray, he added the webs, and then turned to Ostrich, whose jaw was slack.

"Wow," she said, and then laughed. "Won't they be surprised tomorrow!" She high-fived Coati as he took his phone back, and they walked off into the night, just friends who haven't ever committed a crime.

 **Qibli's dare:**

Qibli tugged his phone out of his pocket and snapped a picture of the roof. He had taken the stairs to the top floor of the Ring; a very tall, fancy place used for parties. Qibli had claimed to be going to the ball on floor three, but had taken the stairs from there. He had worn a black jacket, but now he was regretting it. He quickly shrugged it off, the Autumn heat making him want to jump in a cold pool and drown there. Qibli set his jacket down on the roof, trusting it would not get paint on it.

He bent down and quickly fished a screwdriver out of his jacket pocket, standing back up when he had it in his hand. He popped open the lid of red paint he had hidden inside a basket he had said was drinks, and set it down on the roof. He pulled out the cheap foldable mannequin out too, and then arranged it in a broken position before splattering it with red paint.

"Wonderful," he said brightly, and finished throwing paint over the roof. He hoped there were no cameras…

Quickly, he took another picture and then picked up his jacket again. With a final nod, he collected his tools and took the stairs all the way down, leaving the Ring behind him as he slipped away into the night.

 _Sheer minutes later…_

Screams pierced the night, and cop lights flashed. Blue red, blue red, blue red, blue red. Qibli mingled with the crowd, an appropriate look of shock and confusion on his face. He pushed forward, looking up at the roof, where several people were up there, flashlights shining. One of them, voice far away, called down at the crowd; "It's alright folks! Just some teenager prank. It's paint; no need to be afraid!" The crowd stopped screaming, and a few people started laughing. Qibli grinned, and noticed a Rain beside him. Kinkajou.

She glanced at him and broke into the biggest smile ever. "Good job," she said, and tapped her phone screen. There was a small sliding sound, and Qibli knew that she had stopped a recording. With a grin, she walked off into the crowd, and Qibli started towards the dorms.

 **In the dorm:**

Phones were swapped around until everyone but Carnelian and Umber had seen the pictures and watched the videos. Laughter filled the main room, and eventually Qibli hooked Kinkajou's phone to the TV and everyone crowded together on the couch to watch the video she had taken. Evidently, she had videoed the whole thing; she had been waiting at the bottom the whole time.

Ostrich had been invited into their dorm, but she had politely declined, saying her dorm-mates would be all alone without her. Coati had also been invited over for the night, so he bunked in the boys room; much to Winter's dislike.

"One messy Sand is enough," he had complained. Both Coati and Qibli had laughed, and the night went on.

Moon was still a little concerned about what she had said in Truth or Dare. She knew it was silly; so what if she liked one of them? So what if she didn't? Why would it matter either way? She wasn't really within the flow of events that night; mostly detached from the real world, lost in her thoughts.

When the clock struck midnight though, everyone settled down, and Moon found herself alone in the main room. With a small sigh, she flipped off the lights and just fell down on the couch. She was tired. She hoped when she woke up, she could have forgotten about everything she had said. Something about it… seemed important. Life. Changing. Oh well….

The dorm was silent. Nothing moved. Nothing… except for the soft, soundless footsteps of a dragon outside the hallway. The mysterious stranger slipped a note under the doorway. They had their orders. The Night had gotten the vision. It was time for her to figure out what it meant.

The footfalls receded, and the dorm was silent once again.


	12. Chapter 8 - Qibli

**Hi guys! It's been** ** _forever,_** **and I'm so sorry! Vacation and stuff. Skipping the excuses, I** ** _finally_** **finished this chapter like... five minutes ago. I'm sorry if it's a little shorter than some, but I'm hoping it's good enough. Sorry if there's grammar or spelling mistakes, I didn't proof-read it. Sadly, the next chapter will probably a short-story, since I'm currently working on another story. It's not a FanFiction, so I can't post it on here, but if anyone knows (and wants to share!) Any sites where I can just post stories, if you would PM me, I'll make sure to thank you in the next chapter as well as check it out! I'm really needed some feedback for some of them, and it would help** ** _tons._**

 **Also, I wanted to say that your reviews have really encouraged me to keep going. I'm trying to keep this story going, even though my brain feels like it's working through molasses. And your reviews really help! They not only remind I** ** _have_** **this story (I forget often) but they also give me ideas and a little push to keep writing.**

 **Thanks to everyone who's stuck with this even through long waits; make sure to check out the poll on my profile, and please review! On to the chapter!**

Qibli

Qibli woke up to someone poking his shoulder. He groaned and rolled over. "Thorn, I don't _wanna_ get up… can't I just have _five more minutes?"_ He heard soft laughter, and he bolted up as his mind translated the voice. "Moon?" He asked, rubbing sleep from his eyes and feeling very self-conscious in only his shorts. Moon quickly looked away, and Qibli could hear her laugh again.

"Qibli," she whispered with her back turned, "put on a shirt. I need to talk to you." She quickly left the room, leaving Qibli sitting up in bed with no _idea_ what was going on. He sighed quietly and reached into his trunk, pulling out a random tshirt he saw was grey, and dropped it over his head.

Exiting the boy's room with a yawn, he saw Moon pacing in the main room, and he plopped himself down on a couch.

"I don't know if you know this," Qibli said around a yawn, "but I'm not a morning person." Moon laughed again, but there was a tinge of worry in her voice. Qibli rushed himself on getting awake; bouncing his legs and wiggling his fingers.

"What did you wanna talk about?" Qibli said as she turned around in her pacing, his voice much more awake now.

"Ohhh kay, well first off, this is gonna sound _totally_ crazy, and I don't expect you to believe me first off, but I need you to just… trust me," she said, sitting down beside him.

"Yeah, well, you _already_ sound crazy, and besides, I _know_ crazy: nothing can top some of the things I've seen," Qibli said teasingly, but inside he was a little concerned. What was going on?

An itch scratched at the back of his mind, but try as he might, he just _couldn't_ reach it. He knew it was probably what was coming, but he couldn't… _grab_ it. _Whatever the case_ , he thought, _I'll be ready…._

Moon glanced at him sideways, and took a deep breath, releasing it in a sigh. "I can read minds, and I also get glimpses of the future." Qibli stared at her in shock. Well, _yeah_ he had known she could do it, but _WAIT WHAT THE GIRL I LIKE CAN READ MY MIND?!_

He immediately shut down his thinking process and thought about one thing. At first his mind scrambled, but finally he just settled on a clip from a show he had been watching the other day.

 _A fact that is little known to people, emu's have two sets of eyelids; one to keep out dust when they're in the desert. They also have a digestive system close to chickens': they don't have teeth, so they swallow pebbles to help grind their food, making it easier for them to digest tough foods._

"Umm, Qibli, emus are interesting, but I was going to say something else before you um, think anything else." Qibli directed his gaze to the tv, boring holes into it. He bit the inside of his cheek; a bad habit he had picked up as a dragonet.

"I had a vision the first day, and… well, I just forgot about it. Thinking nothing of it, I woke up early this morning… _really_ early… and for some reason came over to the door. I saw a note had been slid under the door, and I picked it up. I thought it was going to have a name on it for someone; you know, a card from a parent or friend or something. When I flipped it over, it had my name written on it. I thought my mom had sent me a letter. I could easily see her doing it, so I opened it and read through it." Moon's eyes got wide and a little frightened, and she pulled a piece of paper out of her pocket with shaking hands.

"Just… just read it." Qibli wondered why he should. I mean, she had been _spying_ on his _thoughts_ this _whole time,_ so why should he help her with anything?

A second too late, he remembered she could hear him. He glanced over, and saw her eyes flash with hurt.

"I couldn't help it, Qibli. Please… I thought if anyone could understand it, you could." With a mental sigh, Qibli took the paper and unfolded it. It had a message written in smooth black lettering, and it looked very un-menacing. Until he read it.

 _Hello, Moonwatcher. We have reason to believe you had a vision a few weeks ago, on the first day of college. We would like to help you… so to speak… "figure out," the whole thing. We have a few instructions for your prophecy. That's right; not just any old vision was the one you had. Now, we suggest you find someone to help you with this before you even start. Maybe multiple someones._

 _We will quickly jot down the prophecy for you, just to jog your memory._

 _ **An evil comes to shatter the sky,**_

 _ **An evil comes to scorch the land,**_

 _ **Unless together; friends united,**_

 _ **The school apart will not stand.**_

 _ **Be prepared for Rain,**_

 _ **For Ice and Sand and Night,**_

 _ **An evil to arise,**_

 _ **For all to end in fight.**_

 _ **A mystery to keep hidden,**_

 _ **Lies to be heard,**_

 _ **End with a secret,**_

 _ **A single word.**_

 _We know specifically what some of these things mean. We will be here the whole time, helping you solve this prophecy. To start out with, we can reassure you that you can stop your school from falling. We know also, that the Rain, Ice, Sand, and Night are probably you and your friends. We are aware that leaves out the Sea; Turtle; but we believe you could let him tag along if you had to._

 _We know the "evil to arise" is a group of dragons that call themselves the Reign of Dark, and they are getting more dangerous as time goes by. They have committed several murders, and we have reason to believe they are coming after your mother next. We have put her in a safe place; don't worry about her._

 _We have no other knowledge of this prophecy. But we do have a lead. In the Ice kingdom, there is a dragon by the name of Shard. Shard is a very informational dragon, and we believe he can help you. All you have to do is say the right code, and we have sent him instructions to help you. You might be wondering how to find him. Go to the Square of Glittering. Find the shop called "Knicknacks." Browse for a few minutes, and stop at a shelf that has CDs. The owner will come out and ask if you want to learn about the history of every one of the CDs. Any normal person would say no. You say yes, and he leads you into a back room where Shard will be waiting. Complicated, but effective._

 _The code is simple though. "Shard… rhymes with card." He will give you information you will need to go to the next place. He refused to give it to us, which is why you have to go through him first. We apologize for the inconvenience._

 _A little additional info is in place to be given to you. The leader of ROD has a small file. We are going to give you the info in this file, in case it will help you._

 _ **Name: Lightning**_

 _ **Gender: Male**_

 _ **Family: None traceable**_

 _That is all it is. We know almost nothing about him. We do know his second-in-command is named Rage, and he is a Sky. He has a sister, Peak, who might be willing to help you. But no one knows where she is. She vanished from the systems three years ago. We do have reason to believe she's alive though._

 _The luck of all Pyrrhia be with you, Moonwatcher._

"Oh geez," Qibli breathed, his eyes glued to the words on the small slip of paper that held so much information.

"And now I have no idea what to do, because it's not like I can just pack up and leave college, but I can't just let the school crumble and possibly have the world _end,_ so I need your help figuring out what's next." Moon held her breath, obviously waiting for his reaction, and he did react. With carefully measured silence.

"Qibli, _please!"_ Moon placed her hand on his arm, eyes pleading. He glanced down at her hand, not meeting her gaze, and she realized what she was doing. She took her hand away and dropped it in her lap, eyes now roaming anywhere but Qibli. He sighed.

"Ok, ok, Moon, I'll help. You don't have to _ask,"_ he said, a teasing edge to his voice. She laughed a little and leaned her head back all the way, resting it on the back of the couch.

"Thanks; you're the best," she said, flashing him a smile, and he watched as she quickly looked away, probably embarrassed by his thoughts.

 _Not that they're weird, or anything,_ he thought, scrambling to make up for the things he thought. Moon just grinned at the wall before turning back to him.

"Not at all," she said as if giving a promise or an oath, her lips twitching as she tried not to smile.

"So who do we tell next?" Qibli asked, attempting (and succeeding) to distract Moon from his thoughts he was trying wildly to suppress. Moon bit her lip, probably thinking about who they _would_ tell next.

Qibli went through his own thought process. If they told Kinkajou first, she'd probably get over-excited and pass out _or_ scream it to the whole campus; which would end in disaster either way. If they told Winter first, he would get jealous on the inside because Moon didn't tell him first, but wave it off as if he didn't care. He would probably reject the idea and stay firmly here, not parting with his precious credit-card. Turtle would freak out and immediately say no before he could even think it over, and would regret it a little because he didn't help his friends; but then again, in the long-run he'd be happy he didn't go, because he would think he would've just gotten in the way. After that he'd probably just be relieved it was over, and try to go back to his normal college life.

 _Hmmm,_ he thought, and tapped his foot on the carpet as he continued his evaluation. If Winter didn't _know_ Moon had told Qibli first, he wouldn't be jealous, but he would still probably say no and stick up his nose, since he was Winter…

But none of the others even had a chance of working. Kinkajou was, like before, too excited, and Turtle was scared to death of his own shadow. No way would he cross the continent to help some people he barely knew.

"Good point," Moon said in response to his thoughts, and Qibli raised his eyebrows at her. She flushed and looked away.

"Sorry, I'll stop, it's just your thoughts are so fast and organized and complex and interesting-" she cut herself off and slid her gaze farther down, face going even more flushed. "Sorry. I'm done now." Qibli almost laughed.

"It's ok. So Winter next? I can just go back into my bed and pretend to be asleep and you can figure out the rest?" Moon pursed her lips and thought about it. Finally, she nodded.

"Welp, I guess I'll dive under those sheets again." Qibli put his hands on his knees to help him stand and walked back towards the boy's room. Before he could get far, however, Moon placed her hand gently on his arm before pulling back and blushing.

"Sorry, just… thanks for not hating me." Qibli nodded, and almost groaned when her face flashed with shock.

 _I thought it, sub-consciously, didn't I?_ He thought. Moon nodded, and Qibli felt the urge to slam his head into the wall. Instead of doing anything, he let his mind play a flashback of his conversation with Coati, him and his buddy figuring it out.

"You did a good job of hiding it," Moon said aloud, and locked her eyes on the floor. Her glasses fell down a little, and she blushed furiously as she pushed them back up her nose. They slipped down again though, and she sighed, face still bright red.

 _Find a way to get me when you're done,_ Qibli thought, almost liking the way he could communicate with her now: through his thought process. She nodded, and Qibli quietly opened up the boy's door, slipping into his bed with only a little squeak from his matress. His head fell on the pillow and he evened out his breathing, eyes fluttering closed.

The door opened again minutes later, and he heard Moon slowly make her way to Winter's bed. The reaction though, was _way_ different than what Qibli had done.

" _Moon? What are you doing in here?"_ Winter hissed, the words coming out loudly; so loud, Umber stirred in his sleep and moved his arm from slung over the head of his bed to where it was on his chest, like he was giving himself a little pat for doing something well.

"Umm," she said, stammering out a sentence as best she could. "I-I need t-to talk to you." Winter snorted, but flung back his covers, sitting up and crossing his arms over his grey t-shirt-ed chest. And no, Qibli couldn't _see_ it; but Winter wore the same shirt to bed _every night,_ so it was literally a 99% chance that was what he was wearing.

"What?" He asked crossly, trying hard to keep up his airy performance. Moon shuffled her feet and paused, probably looking at all of the "sleeping" boys. Winter made no sound for a moment, then sighed. Qibli heard footsteps exit the room, and once they were gone, he let himself relax; going through a little thing his middle-school drama teacher had taught them.

He tightened the muscles in his feet for ten seconds, then loosened them for fifteen. He moved to his calf muscles next; tighten for ten seconds, loose for fifteen. He kept going up; knees, thighs, hamstrings, abs, chest, shoulders, arms, hands, neck, and stopped after jaw.

Qibli opened his eyes and was suddenly _really bored_ of waiting. He rubbed his cover between two of his fingers, and tried to let that calm him down. He knew it had only been a few minutes when Winter threw open the door and Qibli slammed his eyes shut, immediately falling back into the same even breaths of sleep.

"What the _heck_ Moon!" Winter said loudly; too loudly. Coati shifted in the spare bed he was sleeping in, before blinking a few times and sitting up, blurry gaze taking in Winter and Moon and jaw hanging open at the Night in the room.

 _Get him out of here! I can take care of Coati,_ Qibli thought hurriedly, and Moon instantly came farther into the room, grabbing Winter's arm and literally _dragging_ him out of the boys room. Coati blinked a few more times after the door closed, and turned to Qibli who was now sitting up as well.

"Should I ask?" Coati asked around a yawn.

"Nope," Qibli said, motioning for Coati to grab his stuff. "But we do need to get you out of here."

Coati grabbed his phone and earbuds, and everything else he had brought with him. "And why do I need to get out of here?" He asked as Qibli ushered him to the door.

"Put your earbuds in and turn them all the way up," was Qibli's only reply, and while Coati looked at him weird, he was still too sleep-tired to argue, so he pressed them into his ears and cranked up the volume on his phone. Qibli braced himself before opening the door, walking out of the hallway to find Winter glaring at the ground and Moon trying to talk to him.

"I'm so sorry I never tol-" she cut herself off and looked at the two Sands as they came into the room, Coati with his music blaring inside his earbuds and Qibli looking very shocked.

"Told what?" Qibli asked, earning a glare from Winter and a look from Moon.

"Nothing," Winter snapped, and looked back at the floor. Qibli gave him an odd look and then looked at Moon, but she just pursed her lips and looked away. Qibli escorted Coati to the door and into the hallway, where he waved to his friend and shut the door on his form retreating to the stairs.

When Qibli came back inside the dorm, he caught Moon in another sentence; just as she wanted, he figured.

"-eading minds isn't my fault!" She said in a whisper-yell, trying to avoid waking anyone else up. Her head snapped up as Qibli entered the room, as did Winter's.

"Great, just _tell the whole dorm,_ would ya Moon?" Winter hissed as Qibli's eyes went wide and he displayed a look of shock. His eyes darted from the Ice to the Night.

"You… You can read my _mind?"_ Qibli whispered, and Moon looked at Winter in exasperation.

"Now we have to tell him. Geez Winter, just go wake everyone so we can _tell_ everyone!" She must have known what that would do, because Winter flinched and looked down in defeat. Moon turned to Qibli and did the whole thing again; the explanation, the thousand apologies, and the note.

Winter and Qibli just stared at her for a few minutes as she wrapped the last of it up. Finally Qibli made an attempt at humor.

"Who wants to tell Kinkajou?" He asked, and Winter glared at him while Moon cast him a grateful glance.

 _Somewhere else along the time-skip era…_

"You can read my _mind?"_ Kinkajou repeated in wonder and then squealed. "That is _so cool!_ Wait, what am I thinking now?" She scrunched up her nose and closed her eyes before Moon giggled.

"Your thinking about Fandoms where Qibli and Winter are, y'know, _together._ And if this adventure is gonna be told in the future. That's where the fanfictions came in for the guys." Qibli and Winter share a disgusted look, causing both girls to bust out laughing.

"Screw Fandom," Qibli muttered under his breath, making Kinkajou laugh more.

"So let's go!" Kinkajou cried, bouncing on her toes. Qibli grinned at her, and suddenly liked the bundle of child-energy a lot more than he had ten seconds ago.

"What do we tell everyone though?" Moon asked, her voice tinged with worry. Kinkajou's hair turned a bright shade of orange before dimming down to a red-head color. "Who cares what we tell them? We're going on vacation!" Qibli nodded his agreement, and Moon looked to Winter for his opinion. Winter held up a hand.

"I never even _agreed_ to _help._ What makes you assume I'm coming?" Moon's face fell a little, and she poked her light blue sock into the carpet.

"I mean, I just though," she floundered, finally finishing the sentence with; "I though that if _I_ asked, you would tag along, maybe." Winter's face lost it's wall for a second and became indecisive; torn between staying at school and being royal against not wanting to turn Moon down.

His wall was back immediately though, the change lost in an instant flicker. "Fine," he huffed, and looked like he almost regretted it.

"Are we gonna tell Turtle?" Kinkajou cut in, looking back and forth from all of them. Moon looked thoughtful before she shook her head.

"No, but I have something to ask him. Wait right here guys. Actually… start packing what you need." She flashed a little smile at Winter before she popped into the boys room. "And bring that shiny gold Visa card," she said playfully, and the door shut after her into the room.

Qibli watched as Winter fingered his pocket, and figured it must be inside. The Sand promptly ran into the blue-haired Ice, and when Winter scowled deeply at Qibli, the taller boy gave a smile before flipping the card over in his hand, leaving it face up in his palm.

As Winter snatched the Visa back, Qibli tossed a quick; "Watch what you do," before moving to the kitchen and scouring the cabinets for pack-able food. He pulled out a few boxes of poptarts before deciding that it wasn't worth it, and he leaned against the counter; wondering what Moon could possibly be asking Turtle.

 _Oh well,_ he thought, and when a grin spread over his face, he didn't try to hide his thoughts os tormenting Winter all the way to the Ice Kingdom


	13. Short Story - Umber

**Look guys, I'm not dead! I literally woke myself up at 5:40 this morning for school routine, and made myself finish this chapter. My school starts up not tomorrow, but the day after, so my updates will be even** ** _slower_** **and I'm so sorry. I really should work more on this, but I'm writing a story that isn't a FanFiction, and it's consuming a lot of my time. I'm pushing myself to update this every other week, so hopefully I can make that happen. It might not until Spring though, because of my Cross Country and Basketball seasons. I actually have an idea for next chapter, so hopefully I'll be able to do it quickly. It will be a main storyline chapter in Kinkajou's POV, so even I can't wait to write it! Kinkajou is always a fun character to do POV's in, because I can illustrate the childishness of her mind even though she's in college.**

 **Quickly, I want to finish this author's note with 3 thoughts. 1-I've never been in college, so if my writing is off, I beg you to forgive me, because I'm just going off what I think happens. 2-I do not support the soda remark made in this chapter, which you will understand after you read. And 3-I'm going to keep adding 'Short Story' chapters for what is happening at Jade Mountain College (or whatever the heck I named the school) so you'll know what's going on at school while the four main characters are doing the epic quest to save the world.**

 **Sorry I'm a drag - Have fun reading!**

Umber

"Welcome to class," an odd dragon said at the front of the room. He had black hair, tanned skin, and yellow eyes; marking him as either a Hybrid or a hair-dyed Sky. "I'm Celestial; and if you haven't figured it out yet, I'm a Hybrid." Several dragons around Umber gawked, but Celestial didn't seem to mind. Umber found it cool; two different types of parents.

"Today, we are having a special guest to help," Celestial said, and on cue a dragon walked in. "Everyone, this is Peril."

The reactions around the room were mixed. Someone squeaked in fear, another dragon hid a snort at the high-pitched sound, and more than one dragon went silent with just a set of wide eyes to explain.

Umber sat there, thinking it over on his head. Sure, Peril was a fire-touch, but wouldn't that just make her a better metal-worker?

"Um, hi?" She questioned from under her soot-grey hoodie, as if she wasn't sure anyone would answer.

"Hi," Umber said, and a few following "hello"s were murmured. Peril looked at Umber from under her hoodie, and it seemed like she gave him a half-smile.

"Today, we're going to have Peril show us how to make a sculpted aluminum tree. Peril, is that ok with you?" Celestial turned to Peril with the question, as well as everyone else. For some reason, Peril looked in Umber's direction before slowly answering.

"Yup, I can do that. It's pretty simple after a while…" Several students seemed to lighten up at this, although a few were still wary. Celestial looked almost amused at their mixed expressions.

"Alright. Permafrost, can you get an aluminum can from the back room?"

A toned Ice stood up from a back seat and disappeared into a back door before coming back into the class and walking to the front. Umber couldn't help but notice the way his shirt was tight, and his muscles only made it look even better. Permafrost got to the front of the room, and when he spoke, his voice was low and steely, but almost a purr to Umber's ears.

"Here you go." He pressed the can into Celestial's palm before going back to his seat and planting his feet firmly once in his chair again.

Umber redirected his gaze back to the front of the room where Celestial was giving Peril the can, trying to fight the blush rising on his cheeks.

"Um, I don't really know how you guys would get the metal hot or whatever, but I can show you what to do after the aluminum is melted." The can in her hand started to melt into itself, until it was just a puddle of liquid metal. Peril swirled it with a finger, and when she took her finger out, a little metal stuck to it. She shook the drop off, and it landed with a sizzle at a Sky's desk. She yelped a little, and Celestial rolled his eyes when Peril muttered an apology.

"You're fine Peregrine. Just watch," Celestial scolded lightly. The Sky - Peregrine - cast an apologetic glance at Peril, who just nodded with twitching lips.

"You wait for the metal to cool down just a bit, but then you have to work really fast so it doesn't harden before you're done. If it does harden, you almost always have to start over." She demonstrated by not touching the metal with a seperate finger for a while and concentrating hard on something.

Then abruptly she picked up the clay-like metal and speedily sculpted a small tree. The branches were twisted and at odd angles, but it surprisingly made the tree even better.

"And then I set the metal down before it melts," she mumbled, and set it down on a table at the front of the room where demonstrations went. Several dragons looked in awe, but Umber just tried to remember the steps for doing it. Melt the metal. Let it harden just enough to sculpt. Design the tree. Let it cool.

How hard could it be? Umber thought to himself.

"Permafrost, would you go get a bin of aluminum cans for us, please?" Celestial asked the Ice, and the boy grunted before going back into the back room. Umber couldn't help it that his eyes followed the boy until he couldn't see him anymore.

When he came back out with a cardboard box full of aluminum cans, Umber watched him silently as he set them down by the right wall where several lit fires were burning on coals.

"Thank you for helping today," Celestial said, and Permafrost sat back down in his seat with a barely disguised scowl. "Everyone find a group of two and make your way to a fire." Everyone in the class looked around at one another, before a few friends got up and went to each other. A pair of Rain's were first, but that didn't surprise Umber as they were the only Rains in this class.

"Would you like to me my partner?" someone asked from beside Umber, and he turned his head away from the Rain partners to find a pair of black eyes boring into his own brown ones.

"Ummm," Umber stumbled, too caught-up in the appearance of the Sand to say anything. The boy had extremely light brown hair, almost to the point of being blonde. His eyes were a deep, infinite black, and his skin was tanned nearly to yearbook perfection. He had a tan shirt on and light blue skinny jeans, as well as a small-link chain necklace.

"Sorry," the Sand hurriedly said, effectively snapping Umber out of his trance. "I'm Sphinx."

"Umber," Umber said, and stood up while simultaneously sticking out a hand for Sphinx to shake.

The Sand gave a quick, firm shake before letting go and letting his hand fall to his side. "So… do you wanna partner with me?" Sphinx asked again, but this time Umber was less distracted.

"Sure," he said quickly, and walked with Sphinx to a fire.

Celestial came by, passing out one can to every pair. Once Sphinx and Umber got theirs, they found it was a Coke can.

"Pepsi was always better," Umber said, not really expecting a reaction from his partner.

"Yes! Everyone says Coke is all that, but really Pepsi should be the one getting all of attention. I never knew anyone else felt the same way though," Sphinx said, grinning at Umber. The Mud tried to hide his blush; at least they had _something_ in common.

"Alright, now everyone melt your cans in the fire-resistant trays," Celestial said, demonstrating with the big fire at the front of the room where instructions were given. Sphinx set the can in the tray, and he looked almost joyus that they were melting the Coke can.

Umber moved the tray over the fire, and Celestial said it would be about five minutes before they were ready to cool.

"So, Clay's little brother, right?" Sphinx asked, looking at Umber, who had set the tray down on the rack above the hot fire.

"That would be me," Umber said, using a confident but laid-back tone. "Do you have siblings?"

Sphinx shrugged. "I dunno. My parents dropped me at an orphanage the day after I was born. Left a note that said they wanted a little girl. The owner kicked me out when I was fourteen though, because I kept getting into trouble. I got a job at a small store, until one day a rich Sand couple came in and saw me stocking shelves. They asked why I was underage, and the shopkeeper told them I was an orphan who needed the money for food. They took me in after that, and they're not half bad. I didn't even want to go to college, but they convinced me, and here I am."

Umber looked at Sphinx, feeling pity for him, although he tried not to show it. If there was one thing he gathered about Sands; they don't like people feeling bad for them. "Sorry, that was a life story, not an answer to a simple question. So no, I guess I don't, because my adopted parents never had any kids."

"It's fine, I don't mind. Wanna play a game, to help us get to each other?" Umber asked, not really knowing where to take the conversation.

"Fine by me. What game?"

"Five questions," Umber said, and a ghost of a smile crossed Sphinx's face.

"You first," Sphinx said in a polite tone, and Umber decided not to argue with him.

"What's your favorite animal?"

"Hmm," Sphinx said, scratching his arm while he thought. "I guess giraffes. That might sound weird, but I always liked them, because of their long necks and how they have trouble bending to get water. My turn?" Umber nodded, and Sphinx went on. "What's your favorite color?"

"Light red," Umber said, and held back a smile when Sphinx looked confused. This always followed when he told anyone what his favorite color was.

"Do you mean pink, or just a light red?" Wow, usually dragons didn't know what light red was. Umber was slightly impressed.

"Just light red. Not pink; that color makes my eyes hurt." Umber and Sphinx both laughed, and then it was Umber's turn again.

"Favorite song?"

"Home Alone Tonight, by Luke Bryan," Sphinx said with a sheepish smile, and Umber added it to the list of songs he needed to listen to. "Favorite-" Sphinx started to ask, but Celestial interrupted the game.

"Alright, quickly take your metal off of the fire and hold it to the side for a while, until you think it's read to mold."

Sphinx took the tray off of the rack, holding it. Umber and Sphinx both stared at it, trying to determine what time to shape it into the tree.

"This is prob'ly gonna hurt," Sphinx muttered, before he poked a finger into the metal. When he pulled back, the metal let go with no noise, and Sphinx didn't look burned. "It's ready!" The Sand said excitedly, and he and Umber both started to quickly shape a tree. It's limbs were slightly bowed, and one or two were just plain droopy, but overall it wasn't too bad. They set it on the tray beside the fire to let it cool, and then quickly picked back up their game while Celestial helped other students.

"Favorite book or series?" Sphinx asked Umber, and they both leaned against the wall on opposite sides of the fire.

"39 Clues," Umber admitted, and Sphinx hid a small laugh. "I know it's for like fourth graders, but it was still the best series I ever read. How about yours?"

"Harry Potter, all the way," Sphinx said, and Umber decided not to admit he was a Hufflepuff.

"So, Janus, what's your favorite movie or show?" Sphinx asked, and both he and Umber laughed at the 39 Clues reference.

"Avengers, just all of them. All except the Hulk movie; that one sucked." They both laughed again, and Sphinx agreed. "So, DC or Marvel?"

"Batman lost his belt and fell off a cliff, Superman got hit by a flying kryptonite spear, Flash lost his speed and got hit by a train, Wonder Woman last her lasso and got run over by a stampede of bulls, and Cat Woman lost her agility and fell off a building," Sphinx said in a poetic tone, then grinned while rolling his eyes. "Marvel all the way. I surprised myself there with knowing all of that DC stuff… my dad has a mean taste for Batman. Must've been in the room one or two times when it was on. Now if only I could forget it…" Both of the boys laughed, and Celestial came over to see their work.

"For a first time, very good you two. The structure is a little weak, branches need more support, the design is a little off, but other than those few things, it looks great." He handed them two more aluminum cans. "Try again, but this time focus a bit more on the project than the interesting movie world of superheros." Both Sphinx and Umber looked at the ground, sheepish, but when Celestial walked away, he gave them a wink and mouthed: _Marvel._

They high-fived with a look of triumph, then broke down laughing. "Ready?" Sphinx asked, grabbing his can and getting it ready to be melted.

"Sure," Umber said, and put his can next to Sphinx's in the tray. They both waited for them to melt, then cooled them until they were ready.

Sphinx hummed while he worked on his tree, and Umber couldn't help but watch with his quickly-cooling, untouched sculpture in his hands. The Sand's hands were nimble and fast, making branches much better than their earlier attempt. They arched at the right angles, and Umber quickly realized the design was different than Peril's. While Peril's looked like an oak tree in winter with more spindly branches, Sphinx's was quickly taking shape as a weeping willow. Of course the leaves were gone, but the small, delicate branches hung in sweeping billows that swung at first.

"Wow," Umber breath in awe, not really aware that he actually said it until Sphinx blushed/grinned at the floor.

"Sorry. Sometimes my creativity gets the best of me." It sounded to Umber like the sorry had been truly apologetic, which only made the Mud's jaw drop farther.

"What would you be apologizing for?! That's amazing!" Sphinx looked up, a slightly wonderous expression on his face.

"Really? I never knew anyone else thought so…" Sphinx looked sheepish, and Umber couldn't help but smiling.

"Really. Can you teach me how?" Umber hid a blush, but luckily Sphinx didn't see. "I wish. But the thing is, I do these things once and then can't ever do them again. Can I reheat your can for you?" he said in a joking voice, skipping over the other part of the conversation. Umber's blush grew, but this time Sphinx picked up on it.

"Hey, it's ok. You can do it, if you want." Oh; he just thought it was embarrassment that he had let the can cool. Umber let out a silent sigh of relief after he had handed the can to Sphinx. The Sand didn't seem to take any notice of the action, because he turned quickly and started to melt the can again.

"Whose is this?" Celestials asked from near the boys, and they both spun around to where he was pointing at the weeping willow that had been set down on a tray by the fire.

"Sphinx's," Umber blurted, at the same time Sphinx started to make a "Um" sound.

"Very impressive," Celestial said, carefully running his fingers over the delicate, still-slightly-warm branches. "Could use a bit more support at the top of the branches as well as the base, but it looks better than I would ever expect from a college student. Good job, Sphinx." The Sand almost seemed to glow at the teacher's praise, and Celestial chuckled. "How about you, Umber?" Umber pointed to the almost-melted can, a sheepish look on his face.

"Umber's can was thicker than mine, so when we took them off, his wasn't quite ready yet," Sphinx supplied, even though both boys knew it wasn't true in the least.

"Well, make sure you give support to the branches and the base, and design the tips of the branches to look like points and not rounded." Celestial walked off after the advice, and Sphinx and Umber high-fived.

"One awesome sculpture down, my horrible junky one to go," Umber said, and Sphinx smiled in spite of himself.

"It can't be that bad…" he said, but when Umber was finally done, he changed his mind.

"It _can_ be that bad," Sphinx said, jokingly turning his head to the side as if the sight alone horrified him. The tree had crooked, drooping branches, even though Umber had been trying for Peril's design. The base was malformed, lobs dripping down the side due to the metal being too hot when Umber started.

"That's… well, it could improve," Celestial said from behind them, and Umber didn't even seemed shocked at his sudden presence as Sphinx still was. The Mud had a feeling the Hybrid was good at timing things and just appearing.

"It was better as a can," Umber groaned, and Celestial put a hand on his shoulder. "You just need to work on it," Celestial said, a smile hiding under his features. "All pros began as beginners. You just have to practice." Umber squinted at the teacher's choice of words before turning to the older dragon.

"Isn't that a baseball encouraging line?" Celestial laughed, and one head turned their way before turning quickly away.

"So I've been caught. Just try, I was worse when I started." The Hybrid winked before going to another station, and soon more cans were passed around.

"So that was exhausting," Sphinx said _six hours later._ Umber wiped his sweaty forehead with the back of his dirty hand, and he sighed.

" _Very_ exhausting. I would actually invite you to my dorm, but not only is there a killer Sky there, and I mean she _literally_ tried to kill someone, but I'm so tired I would probably pass out before I crossed into the boy's room." They both laughed, and quickly exchanged phone numbers before heading back to their dorms. They only had Metal Working once every week, but it was an all-day class.

When Umber got back, nobody was in the dorm. Which would be pretty normal, except he was already thirty minutes later than normal, and everyone was always back by now. He started walking in, before feet clomped in the hallway, and Umber quickly recognized Carnelian's stomping tread.

Umber raced into the boy's room, forgetting about the plan to take a shower. He shut the door at the exact time Carnelian came in, and he heard her pause before continuing to her room and slamming the door.

Umber slowly left the boy's room and took a shower, but when he came back out, his jaw dropped.

 _If my jaw wasn't attached to my skull, it would be on the_ floor, he thought, as there was no way he was going to think about what he was seeing.

Finally though, he had to face it.

" _What?"_ he choked, and the two dragons he was looking at whipped to face him. Carnelian was pinned to the wall, but not in an aggressive way. Her hands were locked in a dark blue head of head, and paler hands were on her hips pushing her to the wall.

Dark, brooding Permafrost and evil, killing Carnelian were _making out in Umber's dorm hallway._

"Get out!" Carnelian snarled at Umber, and the Mud quickly ducked into the laundry room. He closed the door but left it unlocked, and went to the secret hidden room he was using as his escape from college. He locked it, and worked his way around the paper-riddled floor, sighing as he sat down in the soft chair. He distractedly picked up his notebook and unhooked his pencil from the rings, drawing a random picture he was sure was going to turn out as nothing.

Seven minutes and a half-a-drawing later, Umber started to hear Carnelian yell at Permafrost to leave, and Umber got a better picture of what was going on.

Even though it seemed unlikely, it appeared to Umber as if Carnelian was a _player._ He had never seen Carnelian with _any_ boy before, in fact, she always gave the boys in the dorm death glares when she saw them.

With another sudden thought, Umber pulled out his phone and started to record the fight. Permafrost was yelling back at her, clearly mad he was being ordered to leave after their make out session.

Umber wondered if he knew anyone who could get this leaked anonymously. No, Umber didn't go around sharing little dirty secrets for everyone to share, but somehow the idea came to him anyways. And a name popped up, too.

Sphinx.

 **TwIsT eNdInG ;) Don't forget to (afterthought) go to my profile and vote on my poll! What story should I work on more? Only 7 days left... hurry before it's down!**


	14. Kinkajou - Chapter 9

**Hi guys I'm back! I know I said every-other-week updates, so... my apologies. I've just got done with this chapter, and honestly, I don't know how I feel about it. If you like it, please tell me, and if you don't... tell me that too. If you want another chapter involving Harbor (you'll meet him soon lol) then leave a review! Let me know what you want to happen next chapter, because although I have an idea, I'm not sure. I might make it in Winter's perspective, to add a bit of Wintiju, so let me know what you think about that! (Or not, but think about it...)**

 **I'll let you read now, hope you like this chapter!**

Kinkajou

"WE'RE GOING ON A REAL LIFE ADVENTURE AND YOU GUYS AREN'T EVEN THE LEAST BIT _EXCITED?!"_ Kinkajou yelled, making both Winter and Qibli clap their hands over their ears. Moon was _still_ in the boy's room with Turtle and a sleeping Umber, and Qibli had been doing nothing but teasing Winter and Winter casting enough looks of death for every death in the Hunger Games: times ten.

"Geez Kinkajou, do you have an inside voice? Carnelian and Umber are still sleeping! Oh no the goddess of death herself, we present; daughter of Ares; Carnelian," Qibli said, voice dropping in the last sentence so only Kinkajou and Winter could hear him. Carnelian burst out of the girl's room with a glare more deadly than anything Winter could ever have come up with, and everyone but Qibli flinched.

"Can you be _quiet,_ you _morons?_ Some dragons are still trying to _sleep_ for PyrrhiA'S SAKE WHAT ARE YOU DOING HERE?!" She screamed at the door, and the three other dragons in the room whipped around to see an unfamiliar Ice in the doorway.

 _He looks like he's been in one-to-many fist fights,_ was Kinkajou's first thought, as both of his eyes were black and he had a split lip.

He looked around the room at the other dragons before jerking a finger towards the hallway, indicating to Carnelian he wanted to speak out there.

"NO WAY IN HE-" Carnelian started, but Qibli quickly cut her off.

"I want my story to go down semi-kid friendly please, no swearing allowed," he said, and Carnelian cast him a glare darker than before, although he still didn't flinch.

"Just come on," the Ice said in a rough voice, and waited until Carnelian came out of the room to shut the door.

"...What just happened?" Kinkajou asked, her hair a clear-ish color and face pale.

"Well, I think that is what we call an 'argument'. It usually has fighting and yelling and cuss words, although I saved us from the last one," Qibli supplied with a grin. Winter snorted and rolled his eyes, casting his normal glower at the floor.

Moon came out of the room a minute later, probably having _READ EVERYONE'S MINDS AND FIGURED OUT WHAT WAS GOING ON!_ As Kinkajou thought when the Night came out.

"Here," Moon said, holding open her palm with a strange look. Qibli poked at one before taking it and rolling it in his fingers, and Winter slowly followed. Kinkajou wrinkled her nose at the small black rock left that was the same as the boy's, before saying aloud what she thought when Moon didn't respond.

"It's not very pretty," she complained, and Moon cracked a smile.

"It's not supposed to be, it's just supposed to protect you guys." Kinkajou's eyebrows cinched, so far that there was a small crease between them.

"From what?" Qibli asked before Kinkajou could, and when she pouted, he cast his eyes away in fake innocence.

"From me. Or at least, from my…" Moon struggled for a word, obviously not having thought of one for it before.

"Condition?" Winter supplied, the same time Qibli said helpfully; "Power?"

And of course, Kinkajou couldn't be left out, so when they boys said their words she added, "Awesome gift of greatness?" Moon looked at her strangely for a second before laughing, and Qibli soon followed. Even Winter gave a small smile.

"Right. It blocks me from hearing the person touching it. Or if it's close to their skin. Turtle said it was part of a meteor his mom found in the ocean. And I figured it wouldn't exactly be fair if I just…" she trailed off again, and Kinkajou went over to beam at her and pick up her own rock. Instantly, Moon's face was relieved, like she had been blind and now she could see.

"What was that for? Couldn't wait for me to have my own rock?" Kinkajou joked, although she was actually wondering why Moon had had that reaction.

"When _I'm_ touching one or almost in contact with one, it stops my… ability, completely. I guess I hadn't realized how… _quiet_ it is without being able to hear _anyone's_ thoughts at all. Which sounds bad," she said when Winter's look grew from slightly interested to slightly sour, "but you'd have to experience it to know. Sorry, that was long." She pushed her glasses farther up her nose, and then asked them all where they'd like to keep their rocks. Qibli decided he wanted a necklace, and Winter just put it in his back pocket before Qibli told him someone would take that without batting an eye. So Winter grudgingly picked a simple bracelet, and it was left to Kinkajou to choose her spot.

"Oh, I know the perfect thing," she said with a grin, and disappeared into the girl's room. She went straight to the basket that held her limited jewelry, and plucked out a simple hair pin. She got her glue from another basket, and put a dab of it on the pin where it shined clearly. She plopped on her black rock, making a sort of decoration for the pin, and clipped it into her hair.

She came back out with a little bow, though it was a moment before even Qibli found the rock. He gave a smile, and Kinkajou cast one back. Winter just rolled his eyes - his normal response to most things - and Kinkajou rolled her eyes sarcastically back. Another death glare. Moon twitched her lips, not managing a full smile at the girly accessory, but at least trying.

"So are we going to the Ice Kingdom, or are we going to stare at my; although it's _wonderful;_ pin all day?" Kinkajou asked, smiling over-sweetly. Qibli and Winter headed to the boy's room to pack, and Moon followed Kinkajou into the girl's.

By the time she was done, Kinkajou had packed everything she thought she could ever need. Two dresses and another set of boring clothes. Swimsuit. Hair ties. A hair brush. Nail polish. Headbands. MP3 Player and earbuds. Her phone. BandAids. Markers. Her souvenir bird plush.

She couldn't really think of anything else as she shoved her charger into her bag and grabbed her purse. She skipped back out of the dorm, and was elated to find Winter and Qibli and Moon already there.

"What do we do first?" Kinkajou asked, and just as Moon opened her mouth, Qibli butted in.

"This," he said, slightly mysterious but also humourous, and he went over to the counter, where a little notepad and pencil was beside the wall. He jotted down a few words, then flipped it so everyone could see.

Goin **g** on vacation. Be back soon! -Qibli, _, _, _.

He passed the notepad around, and everyone added their names to the list. Kinkajou wrote hers very neatly, so it took a while, and when she was done, she beamed and turned it around so everyone could see.

Kinkajou

Winter stared a second longer than he should have, and Kinkajou's face fell. Qibli and Moon instantly rushed to help.

"It's beautiful," Moon said, smiling fondly.

"I look four compared to yours," Qibli added with a sideways smile, reaching back and kicking Winter's heels inconspicuously. Winter winced but didn't say anything, seeming to take the hint he did something just as bad as telling a young child they couldn't draw a dog.

"Really nice," he muttered, and instantly Kinkajou perked up, a smile gracing her face again. She knew Winter didn't really think so, but at least he had said it, right?

"Are we ready now?" Moon asked, doing a one-over on their stuff. Kinkajou had an overstuffed backpack, Qibli a single drawstring bag, Moon a navy backpack, and Winter a heavy-duty black gym bag.

"Probably," Qibli said, looking around and smiling ruefully. "Too bad though. Just got here and I'm already going on vacation!" Kinkajou smiled and saw out of the corner of her eyes her hair turn a light redish color.

"As long as I can escape Mr. Webs History, I'm all for this," Kinkajou said, grinning even more as both Qibli and Moon smiled back.

"Let's just go," Winter grunted, starting towards the door. Qibli and Moon shared a look before following, Kinkajou skipping behind excitedly, who had decided that vacation was going to be fun.

As soon as their feet touched the ground outside campus, a sober mood fell on them. They were leaving. Sure, they all we're basically adults now, but it still felt weird to be hiking across the country to find a random dragon. The weight of what they were doing hit them fully as soon as Winter called a chauffeur, the white limo pulling up with a sunglassed Ice driver. All silent, they climbed in the back, Winter not even snapping when Qibli constantly flicked the window settings to different levels.

"Where to?" The driver asked, looking in his mirror back at the college students in his limo.

Moon pulled out the note, reading off the place. "Square of Glittering, please. Ice Kingdom." The driver nodded, sliding the black glass screen back up, leaving the friends to sit in dim light silently. They pulled away from the sidewalk, driving down the street, when Qibli blacked the windows with a small grin.

"So, who has ideas about what to do?"

They ended up playing monopoly for five hours straight. Qibli eventually won, looking more than a little smug about it, right before Kinkajou decided she was hungry. Winter scoffed, but when she kept persisting about it, he finally told the driver to find the nearest fast-food place. It was another half-hour before they pulled up in a Burger King, each of them getting different things. Qibli was the only one who got burgers, and yes, burger _z,_ as in four. And he ate them all, which made Kinkajou chat for an hour about how much food she could eat.

When it fell night, the driver reluctantly told them he needed to sleep, and Winter had him stop at a hotel. Since Winter didn't want to blow all of his money at once, (like that was going to happen) he grudgingly shared a room with Qibli and the driver while Kinkajou and Moon bunked in the room next to them. Kinkajou had gotten a coffee from the lobby right before she went to bed, which was a bad idea, because while she was chatting Moon shoved a pillow over her head and attempted to sleep.

It didn't work.

Finally though, after forty-five minutes of talking non-stop, Kinkajou deciphered that Moon wanted to be left alone. The excited Rain changed into her swimsuit, as the hotel had a pool that was open all night, and went swimming. Moon fell asleep within minutes, grateful for the quiet of the room.

At the pool a Sea was swimming, his arms cutting graceful arcs through the lighted blue water. Kinkajou sat down on a white pool chair, just watching for a while as he swam from one end to the other over and over. After eight turns, Kinkajou was still watching when his head snapped up, as if he had just now noticed another dragon sitting on the edge. Kinkajou blushed red, stumbling over words as he treaded water, looking at her.

"S-sorry, y-you were j-just swimming s-so I thought I wo-would just watch…" The Sea held up his hand and pool water streamed down. He gently smiled, flipping his dark brown hair out of his face.

"Nah, it's cool." He had a slight accent, and from the pool lights Kinkajou guessed he was just out of college - if he had even gone. "Well, I don't want to stop you from swimming, I can just g-"

"Oh no," Kinkajou rushed, glad that from where he was treading he wouldn't be able to see the color of her face very well. "You can stay. I was just bored, and didn't know what to do with myself…" He smiled, swimming to the edge and hauling himself over the lip of the pool, shaking his head and sending water flying much like a dog.

"Harbor," he said, introducing himself and holding out a hand, which Kinkajou bravely shook.

"Kinkajou," she said, noticing that her hair was pink at the ends, quickly switching it to a black with rainbow streaks. He nodded at them as she did, a smile coming across his face once more.

"That's neat," he commented, switching his weight from one foot the the other.

"Thanks," Kinkajou said, her blush returning to her cheeks. She noticed how the air was a little chilly and how he was still dripping wet, hurrying to ask if he needed a towel. With a small laugh he graciously accepted, and Kinkajou walked across the concrete, grabbing a thick white towel for the older Sea. She turned around, about to head back, but she tripped when she saw he was right behind her. With a breath of a laugh he leaned down, giving her a hand, and she gratefully accepted, passing him the towel.

"So, what're you here for?" he asked after he had dried off, heading back to a different chair that held a neat stack of clothes. Kinkajou followed him, until he headed to the changing rooms, at which point she settled into a chair and waited. After he was back and dressed in a loose, open-neck t-shirt and black basketball shorts, Kinkajou answered his question.

"On vacation from college. What about you?" Harbor sat himself down beside her, watching the water as it lapped at the tiled edges of the pool.

"Running," he answered vaguely, pinching the soft cotton of his shirt. Kinkajou was silent for several moments before gingerly speaking.

"If you don't mind, running from what?" She watched in silence again as Harbor squeezed tighter, until his fingers were white and blotched with red from the pressure. Then he sighed and let go, casting one glance at Kinkajou before looking back to the water, glowing with bright pool lights.

"Life. Family. Ex. Home." He looked over again and saw Kinkajou's face, the questions stuck on her tongue because she wanted to be polite. Harbor chuckled a bit, leaning farther back. "You're inquisitive, you know that?" He shook his head once, running his fingers over the hem of shirt.

"I'll go in order of my life, so it's easier to keep track of. I come from the Under Palace. When I was just three, my family moved to the Scorpion Den. Bunch of outcasts we were. I grew up bullied, because I was a Sea and most of them were Sands. That's why I left my home.

"My family… well, I won't say they hated me. But love isn't the word to use either. They tolerated me, up until the day I got a Sand girlfriend. Then they rejected me, told me I was stupid for loving someone who wasn't our tribe, they called me a traitor.

"So that ruined my family for me. Then there's the actual girlfriend. Her name was Cholla, and she was one of the most stubborn people I knew. But she was pretty, and she had an attractive personality. I moved in with her just a few months after the whole family thing, and was fine for about two years. But then when I came back from college early one day, I found her in the living room with another Sand. He was holding her to the couch, kissing her, and she was giggling like that was all she ever wanted. I said nothing, just walked past them, packed my bags, and left."

His eyes got wet, but he blinked away the tears and grimaced. Kinkajou looked at him sympathetically, not knowing exactly how to respond. Harbor let out a gust of air, a laugh hidden in its depths. He placed his hands on his knees, a smile on his lips.

"So yeah, my life sucks. What about you? What's your life like?" Kinkajou looked up from the concrete of the poolside and found his dark moss-green eyes waiting for a response. Kinkajou swallowed before answering, not breaking the gaze.

"Well, as a kid, I was a handful. So much so that my parents put me up for adoption at age six, after I spit at the teacher because she said I could do better coloring. By age seven, no one would adopt me, so they put me in a group home, taught me how to survive on my own. But they never taught me reading, never taught me to write. They taught me how to work, how to weave, sew, be a good "wife". When I was fifteen, I met Queen Glory, who was visiting the home to improve it. Secretly I had always liked her as a person, because she wanted to change things, unlike the other Queens."

"Queens?" Harbor asked, cutting in with slightly narrowed eyes. Kinkajou laughed a little.

"Forgot no one really reads about politics. It's a long story. Anyways, I never told any of the other girls that I liked her, because they hated all royalty, didn't want anything to do with them. Glory saw something in me, I guess, because she adopted me and sent me to highschool. When I was out, she insisted I go to college to learn more, and because of my curiosity, I went." Kinkajou paused, a light smile teasing her mouth.

"And now here I am, sharing my life's story with a guy I just met." Harbor smiled back at her, and they sat for a few moments until the comfortable silence grew awkward. "Well," Kinkajou said, fidgeting with the tasseled edges of the pool chair cushion, "I better go back before my friends worry about me. It was nice to meet you, Harbor."

"Hey," he said, jumping up as Kinkajou stood. "It's not quite midnight yet… and you never even went swimming." He ran a hand through his hair, ruffling it, and Kinkajou smiled shyly.

"That's ok. I'm sure it's cold by now anyways." She headed for the gate, unaware of Harbor behind her, biting his lip as he decided what he could do to get her to stay.

"It wouldn't be cold if I went with you, would it?" He cautiously asked, waiting patiently as she paused. With an over-dramatic sigh Kinkajou turned back around, a grin spreading across her face.

 _He really wants me to stay, doesn't he?_ Kinkajou thought, rolling her eyes to the shadows.

"But you've already changed," she stated, eyeing him with a spark in her eyes. He laughed and went back into the boys changing room, coming out with his damp swim shorts on.

"Not now," he said, and he didn't have time to react before Kinkajou charged him, shoving him into the pool. Kinkajou laughed loudly and then yelped as Harbor yanked her by her ankle in the pool with him, and they started a furious splash war.

An hour later, they climbed out of the pool, laughing breathlessly, exhausted from swimming and dunking and jumping and talking. Kinkajou quickly ducked into the girls changing room, and swapped her swimsuit for a t-shirt and jeans. When she emerged she saw Harbor waiting for her, scrolling through something on his phone.

He looked up and saw her, smiling when he did, and they both walked back into the hotel, talking quietly as to not disturb anyone sleeping.

"Here's my room," Kinkajou said, rocking back and forth on her heels. Harbor put one hand on the doorframe, leaning against it, and smiled.

"Welp, it was a really good night, Kinkajou." He paused for a moment before taking his hand away and grabbing his phone from his pocket. He flipped it around after several moments, and a black number lit up the screen. "If you ever want to talk, I'll probably be awake."

Kinkajou grinned and tucked a lock of her rainbow hair behind her ear. Harbor's eyes followed the movement, and they flashed once before returning themselves to the beam of her gaze.

"Ok, hey, do you have a pen?" Harbor fished around in his back pocket for a second before nodding and handing it to her. Kinkajou clicked it open and scrawled the number down on the back of her hand. "Thanks," she said, and passed it back.

"Anytime," he said, searching her eyes for a second too long. He replaced the pen and rubbed a hand across the back of his neck. "See you around?" He asked, tone almost hopeful.

"You bet," Kinkajou said with a final smile, turning to unlock her hotel door. Before she could though, Harbor spoke back up.

"Kinkajou." His voice was quiet, and Kinkajou faced him, confused. She didn't even have time to say anything before Harbor cupped her jaw and kissed her cheek. Shocked, her hair flared yellow before fading back to a rainbow. She blushed red, and Harbor chuckled, taking his hand back and smiling sheepishly. "Thanks for tonight," he mumbled, and was gone before Kinkajou could even say goodbye.

Still dazed, Kinkajou went back to the room, confused but also elated. She didn't know exactly what she was feeling, but she knew she didn't mind feeling it, so she left it be as she dove under her covers, flicking off her lamp and falling asleep thinking about Harbor.


	15. Chapter 10 - Winter

**Guys. I'M ALIVE. IT'S A MIRACLE. Sorry it took me so long to write this chapter! And sorry it's short! You'll see about halfway through I had some help from algaetheseawing , big thanks to him for basically writing the whole main plot of this chapter lol. See if you can guess who the Agents are at the end. ;) Also, the final little bit was written by me, just so you guys know lol. I was going over and I was like wait... CONFUSION, so yup.**

 **Thanks for all the support on this site! :) It means a lot to me. Once more, updates are random. Very, very random. Monthly at best. I AM however going to try, for all of you, to have A CHRISTMAS CHAPTER. It will NOT be a part of the story, it will just be a small little things to the side.**

 **One last thing! (I always write forever introductions lol.) Comment chapter ideas! I really love knowing what you think about the plot, and it makes me happy that you guys are happy with this story as a whole! Love y'all, Merry Christmas, Happy Holidays, and now for the chapter itself! :)**

Winter

Winter turned the corner, grumbling to himself about how the food machine didn't have any Cool Ranch Doritos, and then froze. In front of Kinkajou's room door, a Sea had just kissed Kinkajou on the cheek, mumbled something, and then walked towards the Ice.

Winter took a step back around the way he came, pretending to have just been going that way, and when the Sea rounded the wall, he looked in surprise at the placid Ice.

"Hey man," the Sea said with a nod, continuing on with a faster pace, although Winter heard him stop just a few feet behind him.

For some reason, the Sea made something twinge inside of Winter, and the slightly-angered Ice started towards Kinkajou's door, opening it without hesitation and slipping inside. He was just in time to see a lamp on, Kinkajou facing away from the door, Moon sleeping peacefully on her back, and at the same time he shut the door Kinkajou flipped the light off.

Winter was struck with a realization of what he had just done. Why had he just barged into the girls room with no real reason? A wave of awkwardness hit him, something he wasn't used to, and he slowly walked to the door connecting his room to their room. He slipped through, and then laid in his bed, trying to figure out why he had followed Kinkajou just because another dragon had kissed her.

Winter woke up to Qibli singing in the shower, his muffled voice off-key and the song something Winter didn't recognize. With a groan Winter glanced at the clock, and upon finding out it was six in the morning, threw a pillow at the bathroom door and shouted.

"Shut up!"

"Did I wake the Prince up too early?" Qibli yelled back, and Winter dropped his face in his second pillow, grumbling a yes.

Ten minutes later, Qibli popped out of a steaming bathroom, still wearing his utterly annoying grin. "Wake up sleepyhead," he said, lifting a pillow from his own bed and slamming it down on Winter's back. The Ice raised his head and glared at Qibli, a look that probably could have killed a grizzly bear. "What?" Qibli asked innocently, "I thought you were asleep." After another glare Qibli retreated to make sure his bag was packed, and Winter rolled out of bed, regretting staying up late last night. He heard the sound of laughter in the girls' room, but ignored it, deciding to take a shower while he had the chance.

When he had taken a freezing shower and had dressed, he stood in front of the mirror, brushing his teeth. He spit and rinsed his mouth, stuffing his toothpaste and brush back in his bag before running a hand through his hair agitatedly. He still couldn't explain why he had went into the girls' room last night, or what he felt inside him when he saw that Sea kiss Kinkajou. He started to wonder what the boy's name was, and how Kinkajou even knew him, since she'd probably never been here before.

"Yo, Prince, we leavin' today or not?" Qibli spoke from outside, and with a scowl Winter opened the door, smugly pleased when Qibli jumped back in surprise. The driver was standing patiently by the door that lead into the hallway, and with a flat tone Winter told him that they should leave. The girls were waiting outside, Kinkajou a bright bundle of energy and Moon looking more than a little pretty; at least to Winter. He touched his bracelet with an inside smile, happy now that she couldn't hear him think, because that would be _really_ bad for him.

"Where to?" The driver asked as they descended the stairs, checking out and nodding goodbye to a bored receptionist.

"Same place as yesterday. Square of Glittering." Winter looked to Moon to confirm, and she nodded. They all piled in the limo again, and set off, mostly just talking for a few hours until they stopped for breakfast at a Denny's.

Kinkajou and Moon slid into a booth, chatting, and Qibli and Winter shared another. It wasn't hard for Winter to pick up on the girl's conversation, and without exactly meaning to, he started listening.

"He was so nice!" Kinkajou was squealing as she looked over the menu, her eyes bright. "He was charming without being slick, and he even talked about what was wrong, even though we'd just met! He was very trusting… and I got his number!"

Moon smiled, and pushed her glasses up on her nose as the waiter came by. "He sounds wonderful. What was his name again? Sorry, I just keep forgetting." She looked apologetic enough, and Kinkajou rolled her eyes dramatically.

"Harbor!" The girls laughed, and a new waiter stopped by the table, his suit rumpled and his tie out of place. Winter hid his contempt as he placed his order.

"Chocolate pancakes with a side of bacon," Qibli said when it was his turn, and Moon grinned slightly.

"Blueberry pancakes, no butter, and an orange juice." The waiter scratched it down on his notepad and nodded, Kinkajou placing her order in a chirpy voice. The man gave her a once over and then a wink, jotting down something else before striding away. Kinkajou blushed but continued talking to Moon, which didn't last more than a few minutes before the same waiter was back with a steaming handful of plates.

"Fried eggs sunny side up, maple bacon, sweet tea," he said smoothly, setting the platter in front of Winter. "Chocolate pancakes, side of bacon." He set the plate down in front of Qibli and Winter finally got a good look at his name tag. It read _Dorcus,_ which made Winter audibly chuckle. He shut up quickly, but Qibli still looked at him funny as the Sand waiter handed Moon her pancakes and drink.

"Buttermilk pancakes with raspberries and strawberries, whip cream on top, mango smoothie, and a full sized fruit salad," Dorcus said, and set the plates in front of Kinkajou. She frowned.

"I didn't order a fruit salad," she said with her eyebrows drawn together, which gave her a somewhat childish look of confusion.

"S'on the house," Dorcus said with a dazzling smile, and he walked off to serve a group of new Sands that just walked in.

"Why…?" Kinkajou asked, still confused, and at the same time both Qibli and Winter snorted.

The looked at each other, Winter glaring daggers, Qibli grinning spotlights.

"Never again," Winter growled, and he turned to Kinkajou before Qibli could. He talked with disdain to the befuddled Rain. "He got it for you because he was hitting on you, because he thought you were pretty or whatever. Bet he'll leave his number on the check, too."

"Oh," said Kinkajou, and Moon rolled her eyes.

"It's fine Kinkajou, you don't _have_ to do anything about it. Just say thanks when he comes back and then never call or text him." She shrugged. "It's that simple."

"But that's mean!" Kinkajou protested, and with equal reluctant glances the three other friends decided not to say anything more about the topic.

"ALGAE'S PERSPECTIVE ON WINTER"

Winter looked away as he felt heat rise up in his cheeks. Why did he feel like this? It was just a stupid Sandwing trying to get some sort of attention from someone. _He probably still lives at home with his mom,_ the Ice thought with a grin. They sat in silence while they ate their breakfast. Winter, much to his dislike, actually thought his pancakes were pretty good, maybe a little overdone, but still good.

"Can I try some?" Qibli asked, his fork already moving towards Winter's plate. Winter wanted to say no, but he didn't want to look like a total fool in front of Moon and Kinkajou, so he just smiled and offered them to the girls too, hoping they might want some.

"No thanks," they both said at the same time. They looked at each other and laughed. Why did Winter even _bother_?

"I have to go to the restroom," he said and got up and went to the back of the diner. He slipped through the door marked **Male**. He went straight to the sink and splashed cold water on his face. He needed to just chill: he hated Dorcus for making him feel this way! If he ever saw that guy again he was going to say what was on his mind. _No_ , he thought, reigning in his temper. _I can't do that, we're all dragons here. I would have done the same thing if I was him._ He recoiled at the thought. What was happening; was Moon rubbing off on him?

He splashed his face again and took two deep breaths. He dried the water with a paper towel and went back to the booth.

"Glad you could make it," Qibli said, "I thought you had fallen in." Winter just looked at him. He went back to eating his pancakes. He was a couple bites from finishing when Dorcus came back and handed them their checks, giving Kinkajou a wink and a smile as he left. Kinkajou just blushed and opened her folder containing the check. Just as everyone had thought there was a piece of paper tucked inside. It said "If you're ever bored and just want to hang, call me," followed by his phone number. Moon and Kinkajou just giggled as the Rain slipped the piece of paper in her pocket.

Qibli quickly figured up the tip and paid it. They left their booth and were about to walk out the doors when Moon reminded them they should probably use the restroom so Winter waited outside while the others went back inside. As Winter was standing there, Dorcus walked up and lit a cigarette.

Winter looked over at him and just couldn't help himself anymore. "What do you think you just did in there?" Winter said in his most authoritative voice, the ones he used on the maids back home.

"Gave a hot girl my number," Dourcus said, taking a long drag.

Winter was so taken aback by the matter-of-fact voice he said that in, and it took awhile for him to say anything. Finally he said "Well she's one of my friends, so I need you to back off."

Dorcus looked at him for the first time since he came outside. "You jealous?" He asked raising one eyebrow

"NO," Winter answered... maybe a little to fast "And even if I was, which I'm not, why would it matter?"

Dorcus took another drag and blew it in Winter's face, then looked away and carefully said, "I guess it doesn't," just as Qibli and the girls walked out of the restaurant. Dorcus winked at Kinkajou and said, "Look'n forward to hearing from you real soon," which made Kinkajou giggle. Dorcus looked back at Winter, smirked, blew the last of the smoke in his face, and threw the cigarette at Winter's feet. He turned around and went back inside.

"What was wrong with him?" Qibli asked Winter quietly as they got in the car.

"None of your business," Winter said sharply as he buckled up. "The Square of Glittering," he told the chauffeur, and the man pulled out and drove off.

 _9:59 pm, the day after Harbor met Kinkajou. Somewhere in Pyrrhia…_

"Good work Agent H. I'm pleased with your report. So the Rain, she isn't suspicious at all?"

"No sir," said Agent H, thumbing the hem of his shirt. "She fell right in. I think she might even have a crush on me." He smirked, and the man opposite him slowly turned in his chair. He was staring grimly at the Agent. H swallowed nervously, the smirk instantly gone.

"Was anyone else suspicious? Anyone at all? Any opposition?" This is the one thing Agent H wished he hadn't been asked. The General would not be pleased…

"There was one incident, sir." The man sat straighter, harshly looking at H. The Agent continued in a slightly unsteady voice. "After I kissed her on the cheek, I rounded the corner to find the Ice just staring at me, almost angrily. I gave him a friendly hello to keep up appearance, and he just walked past me, right into her room, like he had something to prove." H's hand started shaking. "I… I think h-he w-was…"

"Spit it out!" The General roared, face red from the lack of truth. You ask an Agent to do one simple, simple thing, and they SCREW IT UP, EVERY TIME.

"He was jealous," H gasped, then fought the urge to shut his eyes. He wished he knew what was coming, but with the General, you never know….

The General rubbed his temples with a frustrated sigh, leaning back in his chair. "The only reason a bullet is not in your skull right now is because I need you. And Agent D. He is due for his report in…" The man checked his watch, then went back to glaring at H. "Sixteen hours. Now, this Ice seems to have a thing for the Rain. We must fix this. We cannot have some college student getting jealous over a little crush and stopping us from infiltrating the PHN." He pronounces it "pin," or more closely "p-hin," with a small gap between the letters.

"Now, I want you to keep up contact with the Rain. Schedule a meeting sometime soon. See if you can gain her trust further. If you can't, direct her to Agent D. He will get her if you can't." The General stared fixedly at Agent H, saying his next words very threateningly. "You have sixty-two hours. You better hurry, H."

The Agent practically fled the room. The General turned his chair back around, facing his board with another sigh. He picked up a pen and clicked the end repeatedly.

"We'll find you, Moonwatcher," he said quietly, looking at the black and white photo of her looking over her shoulder in the middle of the board. A pin was holding the photo in place, string connecting it to other photos on the board. A pink one led to a similar photo of Kinkajou, a green to a picture of Turtle, a purple to Winter, and a yellow to Qibli. "We'll find you, one way or another." Slowly he traced a brown string across the board, where his finger stopped on a connected image of a dragon, a grainy image of her mother. "We'll find you."


End file.
